FREEDOM FROM SELF

Charles Spurgeon, May 5th (morning) ~ "For if God be your God and Christ your Christ, the Lord has a special interest in you; you are the object of His choice, accepted in His beloved Son."

The Lord is the Creator of all and owns everything. Yet He has placed His special affection on His children whom He has predestined and called and known from all eternity. If Romans 8:29-30 is true and God has truly set me apart for Himself from all eternity then there is nothing I can bring now or could have brought then. What foolish pride O God! I need my eyes ripped off myself and placed on Him. In the front cover of my Bible I have taped Spurgeon's devotional from the morning of June 28th. "It is always the Holy Spirit's work to turn our eyes away from self to Jesus. But Satan's work is just the opposite; he is constantly trying to make us look at ourselves instead of Christ."

1 John 4:9-10 has really helped me this morning. It is all God. Without His actions we would never know what love really is. We were ignorant. God initiated. He gave, He sent. We were dead in our trespasses and sins. He knew what our fate would be without Him. We had no idea, and still cannot comprehend how awful sin is and what a horrific place hell is. It is real. He knew. He sent Jesus to bear His wrath. How does that song go? "I'll never know how much it cost to see my sin upon that cross."

O foolish woman, why do you look to yourself when there is such a God to behold, worship and adore? Look away from your mud puddle and take in this oceanic vista! Turn and look at the endless ocean that is the magnificent love of God and worthiness of Christ.