March
30
The
Son can do nothing by Himself (John 5:19 NLT).
That is the principle of
the Cross. He accepted that position of being able to do nothing out from
Himself. It must all come out from God. There is no way through otherwise....
There was a revolution in my life thirty years ago when that principle of the
Cross came flat up against ministry – ministry that for years I had been
producing – against all my study, reading and late nights, to get up the stuff
for ministry, till the whole thing became an intolerable burden in myself.
Others perhaps thought it to be pretty good, but the crisis when – listen to
me, men and women who are in ministry, or contemplating it – the whole turn
came upon the recognition of this principle, this principle of the Cross when,
with the door closed, I said to the Lord ‘I am finished in all ministry, I am
never going to preach again unless You do something now. I have been doing it
all these years; I have been producing this, now I am finished. You have got to
do it.’ But I saw that principle, you see, as the principle of the Cross and I
meant it.
Forgive me speaking of
myself, but I must bring this home in some way. The next week would have seen
my resignation in with my church officers, and I would have gone out from ministry
if the Lord had not done it. But the Lord was true to His own principle. It was
an utter end of anything that I could produce for ministry, and I meant it to
be like that, because I recognized that God meant that. That was the principle
of the Cross – nothing out from ourselves. No fruit that labor and study of the
mind and heart could produce has a way through in the work and service of God.
God was true to His own principle – He always is. From that day to this, there
has been no trouble about ministry. It is easy to let ministry go, and much
more easy than to accept it. This clamoring for ministry – it is uncrucified
flesh. Well, there has been an open heaven since then. Again I beg your
forgiveness for making this personal reference, but this is a true thing. It is
a principle which covers all the ground.
By T. Austin-Sparks from: The Cross and
the Way of Life - Chapter 2
This photograph is by -- and also OF (!) Liz Burnell.
No comments:
Post a Comment