Humility and Holiness

I was reading my evening Spurgeon a week or so ago and it came upon the subject of humility as it relates to holiness. This made me think of two things, a Biblical reference and a personal memory: the Biblical reference(s) was/were the many examples of the Pharisees and their striving for "holiness" and perfection before God while in their very boasting betraying the notion that they had actually attained it, showing why their works were filthy rags.

The personal memory was from college. As background, I attended a private Christian college which had a very heavy Wesleyan (and thus holiness) influence in the Methodist tradition. We had chapel three times a week and often there would be a time to approach the altar and pray; I had a friend (one of my groomsman, actually) who would constantly go to the altar to pray. In my ignorance and sin, I asked myself, what's so wrong with him that he needs to go up there all the time? Is it a show or is he doing it because he thinks he's better, etc? However, in the knowledge I have now, I know better.

Holiness often is not so much about our attainment of perfection that it is about Christ increasing in our lives (see the transformation Paul talks about in Romans 12, for one example); our increase in holiness should have a direct correlation with the increase in our humility. That is to say: the more self-aware we are of our own sin (made possible of course by the Holy Spirit) and our need for Christ, the more refining that takes place and the more that Christ increases.

Show me a Christian increasing in godly humility and I will show you the same man increasing in holiness; show me a man who seemingly increases in holiness without humility and I will show you a man headed for a prideful fall.

A humble man becomes more and more aware of his unworthiness before Christ, while a man who vainly works and strives for his holiness begins to rely on his own works and feels God owes him.

Holiness should mean less of me and more of Him; our desires are changed at our regeneration. We are enabled at that point to make distinctions and decisions we were not able, dead in our sin, to make before. In the process of our sanctification, in our growth in holiness, God through the Holy Spirit knocks down obstacles that keep us from being wholly his (make no mistake--when justified, we ARE His, bought and paid for). He changes who we are, down to our core, and makes us the salt that we were intended to be, so that we may be even more gripped by grace than when He first called us.

So, my friend was not better than I was; in fact, he was proclaiming as Paul stated that he was the chief of sinners, being more aware of how unworthy before God he was and throwing himself on the mercy and grace of Christ. May we all be so fortunate to progress steadily in humility and holiness before the Lord!

Our Jesus is Ready to Pardon

Many times has Spurgeon convicted me of things but oftentimes he reminds me of how thankful I should be. Consider these words from the August 22nd Evening reading:

My Lord is more ready to pardon than you to sin, more able to forgive than you to transgress.

It is just one comment, and Spurgeon goes on to talk about the riches of Christ, but this statement is so profound! In the depths of your sin, in the gutters of your iniquities, He stands ready to pardon you, again and again. Not seven, but seventy times seven! No matter how much you sin, if you are counted for Christ, He will forgive. Often we are as the prodigal son, sludging around in the pigs mud and feed in our own sin, sometimes even beating our chest that we are the chief of sinners; however, much like the prodigal son, we must lift our head out of the mire, realize the riches of forgiveness that we have in Christ, and run to Him, flinging ourselves on His mercy!

It is very human to think there is a point at which God will say, "no, not this time; you've gone too far." But we must again remember that it is Jesus' righteousness that we plead when we go before the Father; in fact, it is only Christ's life, sacrifice and death on the Cross that allows us to approach the Father at all.

So no matter how often or even how willfully you enter in to sin, know that pardon in Christ stands at the door; He calls you to righteousness, yet He knows that of your own power you cannot do it. He knows you will fail, but He stands ready to pardon you. He is more ready to pardon and forgive than you are to sin! What a glorious truth that we can rest in, this side of glory.

Fleeing from Temptation

From the Morning Reading, July 25


“He left his garment in her hand, and fled, and got him out.”
Genesis 39:12

In contending with certain sins there remains no mode of victory but by flight. The ancient naturalists wrote much of basilisks, whose eyes fascinated their victims and rendered them easy victims; so the mere gaze of wickedness puts us in solemn danger. He who would be safe from acts of evil must haste away from occasions of it. A covenant must be made with our eyes not even to look upon the cause of temptation, for such sins only need a spark to begin with and a blaze follows in an instant. Who would wantonly enter the leper’s prison and sleep amid its horrible corruption? He only who desires to be leprous himself would thus court contagion. If the mariner knew how to avoid a storm, he would do anything rather than run the risk of weathering it. Cautious pilots have no desire to try how near the quicksand they can sail, or how often they may touch a rock without springing a leak; their aim is to keep as nearly as possible in the midst of a safe channel.

In this first part of the reading, Spurgeon speaks of fleeing temptation as the only way to have victory. Note that he says "the mere gaze of wickedness" is a dangerous thing, and how true this is! Perhaps not the first time, but then the next and the next, and so on, because a spark is all that is needed to start a blaze that consumes a forest. Something that we may perceive as harmless can lead to something that will destroy us--the world is very good at convincing us that we are better than we think and Satan just helps that along. Show me a man who boasts about defeating temptation and I will show you a man who succumbs to it (at the least, in the form of pride).

In the second part of the reading, he speaks of not being of the world and losing respect, relationships, etc in fleeing temptation:

This day I may be exposed to great peril, let me have the serpent’s wisdom to keep out of it and avoid it. The wings of a dove may be of more use to me today than the jaws of a lion. It is true I may be an apparent loser by declining evil company, but I had better leave my cloak than lose my character; it is not needful that I should be rich, but it is imperative upon me to be pure. No ties of friendship, no chains of beauty, no flashings of talent, no shafts of ridicule must turn me from the wise resolve to flee from sin. The devil I am to resist and he will flee from me, but the lusts of the flesh, I must flee, or they will surely overcome me. O God of holiness preserve thy Josephs, that Madam Bubble bewitch them not with her vile suggestions. May the horrible trinity of the world, the flesh, and the devil, never overcome us!

Note here that we must have an attitude of abandonment to those things around us that would pull us into sin; Christ spoke of cutting out an eye or cutting off a hand and entering eternity with one eye or hand rather than have both and go to hell. So too must we be ready to siphon off habits or relationships which cause us to sin; this is how it MUST be if we are truly set apart. Another interesting statement Spurgeon makes is that he distinguishes that Satan plays a role but that we also play a role in temptation--the lusts of our flesh we must flee as well. It is not enough to simply state, "Satan, flee from me," when in my own flesh I have ungodly desires and ideas that I do not actively combat with the Holy Spirit's assistance. War must be made on sin, its temptation and the very cause of that temptation. Run from it, Christian, and cling to Christ's work on the Cross and the resurrection!

Standing Still in Your Faith

The following reflection comes from the July 24th Morning reading. The scripture is Exodus 14:13, which states: Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord.

Spurgeon comments at the beginning that these are the words of God to someone who is trapped on all sides by great difficulties and trials; but it is our nature to listen to other influences (or even ourselves) in trying to overcome it.

Despair tells us just to give up, Spurgeon says--but God would tell us to "rejoice in His love and faithfulness."

Cowardice tells us that we should run away and hide, that we cannot be the Christian we should be; we should give up our "principles." Spurgeon, however, points out that as children of God--called out as we are--we cannot follow this course and may need to remain still and endure to make some greater advance at a later time.

And to take this further, this is the growth and maturation of faith. That we would, in the midst of suffering and trial, recognize that He is in control of it and that He will make it come to pass and end in His time and that more importantly, He will give me the grace needed to complete it, to endure. Our ongoing sanctification is a purifying, a purging that while on the one hand makes us more holy, it makes us more aware of our need for Christ.

But Spurgeon also states, in almost a comparison with the psychological term "fight or flight", that we have a tendency to want to "do" something about our plight.

Preciptancy says that we must do something, sound the alarm and act--to merely wait is foolishness and idleness. However, doing nothing may be what God calls us to do because as God He will do EVERYTHING (though this does not preclude God using means through others, because going too far can lead to incorrect thinking on this matter).

Finally, our presumption might tell us to jump into something and expect a miracle, but Faith tells us to wait on the Lord and He will guide us, through prayer and the Word. God appoints all things for the proper time, and sometimes it is quite hard to be patient and wait upon the Lord.

We must be discerning in our thoughts and prayer to listen to the Lord and wait if we are called do so; but if the Lord says, "go," we must be ready to step out in faith knowing that He has strengthened us for the journey and will supply the grace to see us through.

Why I started this blog

I am creating this separate blog because Charles Spurgeon morning and evening readings often convict me on a daily basis, and often provoke me to thinking on various things, spiritual and otherwise (as good writers often do). And I don't want to clog up my other blog with numerous posts on Spurgeon, when I can do that here!

So feel free to interact with my posts!