06.25. Self-Renunciation

Self-Renunciation
"Men shall be lovers of self."
2 Timothy 3:2 (New Translation).

O man! how hast thou proved
What in thy heart is found;
By grace divine unmoved,
By self in fetters bound.

Twenty-Fifth Week The flesh always pens itself in, because it is selfish. When we are in the Spirit there is always unity.

Impossible when we think of ourselves to be witnesses to others of what God is! The grief, which egotism and self-love produce, makes room for the action of the evil spirit on the soul.

Love likes to be a servant, and selfishness likes to be served.

If I get hold of the path, the spirit, the mind of Jesus, nothing could be more hateful to me than anything of self. You never find an act of self in Christ. Not merely was there no selfishness, but there was no self in Him. When the soul is cast upon God the Lord is with the soul in the trial, and the mind is kept perfectly calm. The Spirit of love, the Spirit of Christ is there; if thinking of myself this is the spirit of selfishness. The Holy Spirit has no fellowship with . . . self. The heart is not delivered from it until the Spirit has guided our thoughts to Jesus. . . . The effectual presence of the Spirit crucifies egotism and gives freedom of thought about ourselves . . . it occupies us with but one object — Jesus.

We have the privilege to have done with ourselves in the house and bosom of God. Our own will and making ourselves the centre is the spring of all our wretchedness; for outward circumstances may be trying — may give sorrow, but not wretchedness — where this is it is the fruit of will, restless and discontented. Our natural tendency is to get pleasures for self. Innocent they may be but they take the heart from God; they are spoiled by sin. People ask the harm of these things. The question is, What use are you making of them, and where is your heart? The moment there is a turning from the cross (death to everything) our Lord says, "Get thee behind me."

Moses did not seek to have his face shine, nor even know when it did, but when he had been with God it did so. . . . A shining face never sees itself. The heart is occupied with Christ, and in a certain sense and measure self is gone.

Self is always alienation from God.

Self-confidence is ruin. "Be not wise in thine own eyes." They do not see far if they only see self, and that is what always is in our own eyes. Our prayers, our praises and our services are so poor and worthless, and yet we are proud of them. We seek praise from our fellowmen for the very things we have to confess as tainted with sin before God. What need, therefore, to bare our hearts and say, "See if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting."