A friend and I were e-mailing back and forth a while back and I wanted to share what has been on my heart. Here is a little part of what God has been doing in my heart and mind over the past weeks:It seems that God is constantly humbling me. I am so thankful for that though, because as the sinner that I am my tendency so often tends to be prideful and comfortable in my little life I'm living. Once again God opens my eyes to see that its not about me, it's not about me at all ~ It's about Him and His glory. I was just thinking yesterday, that if I could really really grasp that ~ that this life is about His glory, and that all it is is a training ground!! A place where I find that I am absolutely nothing without Him. A place where I can experience heartache and failure and where I can see how I fall so so so short. A place where He teaches me to know Him and be His. How differently my life would be if I could completely wrap my mind and heart around that!
...and to add to that, if this life is just a training ground, a place where God is showing me Who He is, and my chief end and eternal purpose is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever...then why don't I live like that? Why am I not constantly on my face before Him in awe? Why don't I talk about Him every. single. chance. I get? Why do I not have more patience, more love, more forgiveness, more joy? "What do I know of this Calvary Love?" Sweet GRACE, friend! How thankful I am for that! We have far to go, precious friends. far to go. Our Savior always finishes what He starts, and that is a promise.
"For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus." ~Philippians 1:6
"...will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus." We are constantly being perfected, perfected, perfected...until the day of Christ Jesus, until the day He brings us home. He is working in you today if you are His! He is working in me today! What an encouraging thought! We weren't the same as we were yesterday! I remember my pastor saying this quote a lot:
"I'm not what I ought to be, but praise God I'm not where I used to be!"
He is working friends, but until that day we strive to be made whole. It is my prayer that He will pull me near and He will open my eyes more and more and more to behold His beauty. These quotes from Amy Carmichael have had a huge impact in my life. They are so convicting, but that is exactly what I need. That is exactly what I want, because anything that convicts me only serves to draw me nearer. I hope the Lord will use these in your life like He has mine.
If I belittle those whom I am called to serve, talk of their weak points in contrast perhaps with what I think of as my strong points; if I adopt a superior attitude, forgetting “Who made thee to differ? And what hast thou that thou hast not received?” then I know nothing of Calvary love.
If I find myself taking lapses for granted, “Oh, that’s what they always do,” “Oh, of course she talks like that, he acts like that,” then I know nothing of Calvary love.
If I can enjoy a joke at the expense of another; if I can in any way slight another in conversation, or even in thought, then I know nothing of Calvary love.
If I can write an unkind letter, speak an unkind word, think an unkind thought without grief and shame, then I know nothing of Calvary love.
If I do not feel far more for the grieved Savior than for my worried self when troublesome things occur, then I know nothing of Calvary love.
If I can rebuke without a pang, then I know nothing of Calvary love.
If my attitude be one of fear, not faith, about one who has disappointed me; if I say, “Just what I expected” if a fall occurs, then I know nothing of Calvary love.
If I am afraid to speak the truth, lest I lose affection, or lest the one concerned should say, “You do not understand,” or because I fear to lose my reputation for kindness; if I put my own good name before the other’s highest good, then I know nothing of Calvary love.
If I am content to heal a hurt slightly, saying “Peace, peace,” where there is no peace; if I forget the poignant word “Let love be without dissimulation” and blunt the edge of truth, speaking not right things but smooth things, then I know nothing of Calvary love.
If I hold on to choices of any kind, just because they are my choice, then I know nothing of Calvary love.
If I am soft to myself and slide comfortably into self-pity and self-sympathy; If I do not by the grace of God practice fortitude, then I know nothing of Calvary love.
If I myself dominate myself, if my thoughts revolve round myself, if I am so occupied with myself I rarely have “a heart at leisure from itself,” then I know nothing of Calvary love.
If, the moment I am conscious of the shadow of self crossing my threshold, I do not shut the door, and keep that door shut, then I know nothing of Calvary love.
If I cannot in honest happiness take the second place (or the twentieth); if I cannot take the first without making a fuss about my unworthiness, then I know nothing of Calvary love.
If I take offense easily, if I am content to continue in a cool unfriendliness, though friendship be possible, then I know nothing of Calvary love.
If I feel injured when another lays to my charge things that I know not, forgetting that my sinless Savior trod this path to the end, then I know nothing of Calvary love.
If I feel bitter toward those who condemn me, as it seems to me, unjustly, forgetting that if they knew me as I know myself they would condemn me much more, then I know nothing of Calvary love.
If souls can suffer alongside, and I hardly know it, because the spirit of discernment is not in me, then I know nothing of Calvary love.
If the praise of others elates me and their blame depresses me; if I cannot rest under misunderstanding without defending myself; if I love to be loved more than to love, to be served more than to serve, then I know nothing of Calvary love.
If I crave hungrily to be used to show the way of liberty to a soul in bondage, instead of caring only that it be delivered; if I nurse my disappointment when I fail, instead of asking that to another the word of release may be given, then I know nothing of Calvary love.
If I do not forget about such a trifle as personal success, so that it never crosses my mind, or if it does, is never given room there; if the cup of flattery tastes sweet to me, then I know nothing of Calvary love.
If in the fellowship of service I seek to attach a friend to myself, so that others are caused to feel unwanted; if my friendships do not draw others deeper in, but are ungenerous (to myself, for myself), then I know nothing of Calvary love.
If I refuse to allow one who is dear to me to suffer for the sake of Christ, if I do not see such suffering as the greatest honor that can be offered to any follower of the Crucified, then I know nothing of Calvary love.
If I slip into the place that can be filled by Christ alone, making myself the first necessity to a soul instead of leading it to fasten upon Him, then I know nothing of Calvary love.
If my interest in the work of others is cool; if I think in terms of my own special work; if the burdens of others are not my burdens too, and their joys mine, then I know nothing of Calvary love.
If I wonder why something trying is allowed, and press for prayer that it may be removed; if I cannot be trusted with any disappointment, and cannot go on in peace under any mystery, then I know nothing of Calvary love
If the ultimate, the hardest, cannot be asked of me; if my fellows hesitate to ask it and turn to someone else, then I know nothing of Calvary love.
If I covet any place on earth but the dust at the foot of the Cross, then I know nothing of Calvary love.
That which I know not, teach Thou me, O Lord, my God.
~From the book ‘If’ by Amy Carmichael
Teach me Lord, because I fall so short. What do I know of Calvary love? I know You, sweet Savior, and I cling to your promise that You will finish what You began. Oh how I need You!
I think I'm going to have to buy this book! Wow, great quotes. Convicting, for sure.
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