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We are God’s Property, August 1
Know ye that the Lord he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not
we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
Psalm 100:3
.
God has created man and given him all his faculties of body, soul, and
spirit. The Lord Jesus has bought him with a price so full, so ample, that
there could be no competition. What can man offer to God that is not
already the Lord’s own? God gave the faculties, and every working of
these faculties belongs to God. This means that your experience from first
to last is to be yoked up with Christ. Learning the lessons of meekness
and lowliness of heart makes you a partaker of Christ’s sufferings and
appreciative of the virtues of the life of Christ.
There will be a constant prayer, Keep me by Thy power; let not my
feet slide; let not my heart be filled with ambitious plans to exalt myself....
Teach me how to practice the art of self-emptying in order to be supplied
with the grace of Christ and have that love Christ prayed that I might have,
“as I have loved you” (
John 13:34
). I must receive grace that I may supply
others with that grace. Oh, give my soul much nearness to God, that I may
receive His disposition and love my brethren. Help me, O Lord, to realize
that I am of myself unable to do anything in its true, pure bearings. Self,
self, will be continually active for recognition, even in the very holiest of
exercises....
Our work individually is to copy the character of Christ, who gave
His life to make it possible for us to do this. Shall we evidence to the
world that we are children of God, bought with a price, and that we are
bearing fruit in speech, in tone of voice, and in kindness of redeeming
love, showing what it means to keep the commandments of God?....
The grace given cost Heaven a price it is impossible for us to measure.
That grace is our choicest treasure, and Christ means that it shall be
communicated through us. It is sacred, in the name of Jesus, to the saving
of the soul. It is the revealing of the honor of God, an unfolding of His
glory. And shall any man or woman professing godliness misinterpret the
gift, ignore the Giver, and present a substitute?
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