The more my heart is taken up with Christ, the more do I enjoy practical deliverance from sin’s power. – H.A. Ironside
After being a believer for so long, I can sometimes become discouraged with what seems like a slow growth process concerning my sanctification. For every step forward, I feel like I take two steps back. Maybe that is why I could so identify with the words from J. Hudson Taylor.
“I hated myself; I hated my sin…I felt that there was nothing I so much desired in this world as holiness, nothing so much needed. But so far in any measure attaining it, the more I pursued and strove after it, the more it eluded my grasp; till hope itself almost died out… I cannot tell you how I am buffeted sometimes by temptation. I never knew how bad a heart I had. Often I am tempted to think that one so full of sin cannot be a child of God at all.”
Some may be surprised to find that these words were penned by one of the most revered heroes in the Christian church. J. Hudson Taylor was a nineteenth-century missionary to China. A renowned man of extraordinary faith, sacrifice, prayer and devotion. While serving in China, he found that every day he felt oppressed by his sin. Help came in the form of a letter from a fellow missionary.
“Abiding, not striving nor struggling; looking off unto Him; trusting Him for present power; trusting Him to subdue all inward corruption; resting in the love of an almighty Savior;…this is not new and yet ‘tis new to me. I feel as though the first dawning of a glorious day had risen upon me.”
In a later letter to his sister, Taylor communicated that he was as happy as he had ever been. What caused such a changed…even in the life of a believer? Taylor said, “I am as capable of sinning as ever, but Christ is realized as present as never before.” Fixing our gaze on Jesus is a powerful thing when we are seeking to be holy. Paul the apostle says it this way: "And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit."-2 Corin 3:18. So, even in my daily struggle against sin, I know that there is hope. I know that I don’t have to fight this battle alone. I can live my life hoping that my battles are achieving glory for God. But I can rest, knowing He has already won the war.
~Holy God, there is none like You and I thank you for sending Your precious Son as a sacrifice for my sins. Help me to hate me sin as You do, but not to make it bigger than You. May I live my life in the shadow of the cross, living in all joy and gladness because of what has been accomplished! Help me to walk humbly before You and the people in my life.~
-Lana-
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2 Corinthians 3 is one of my most loved passages in Scripture. Josh Harris just put a quote up from Spurgeon on his blog that you should check out. It basically says that we can neither make doctrine nor experience the main thing. The same can be said of sin, we can not make it the main thing.
But Jesus Christ, we can never make too much of Him. So we make him the main thing, and fix our eyes on the main thing. Wonderful words Lana. Thank you :-)
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