Yesterday two of the books I am reading came together to make a major point to me, and I thought I would share.
First of all, I highly recommend both of these books: The Light and the Glory by Peter Marshall and David Manuel and Humility by Andrew Murray. Put them on your "to read" list (and read them!) and you won't be sorry :).
The main point that Andrew Murray makes in Humility is that the proper relation between a creature and his Creator is utter dependence. He says that divine humility is simply letting God be all. God created us to be vessels of His life.
Here is how he says it:
"When God created the universe, it was with the one object of making the creature partaker of His perfection and blessedness, and so showing forth in it the glory of His love and wisdom and power. God wished to reveal Himself in and through created beings by communicating to them as much of His own goodness and glory as they were capable of receiving. But this communication was not a giving to the creature something which it could 'possess' in itself -- a certain life or goodness of which it had the charge and disposal. By no means. But as God is the ever-living, ever-present, ever-acting One, who upholds all things by the word of His power, and in whom all things exist, the relation of the creature to God could only be one of unceasing, absolute, universal dependence."
As we are for every virtue, anything good, we are dependent on the life of Christ being manifested in us even to be humble and dependent on God. Jesus was and is the truly humble One.
The Light and the Glory is the story of God's plan for America. It is the product of two believers coming together to seek the Lord and study the history of America to find out the true story of the birth of our country. The chapter I read yesterday, chapter 14: God's Controversy with New England, was the heart-breaking record of the Puritans' falling away from their deep dependence on God within a generation or two of their escaping persecution in England to be a "city on a hill." As God blessed their former dependence on Him, as they became comfortable, where they had once needed God and each other for everything, now they had large, comfortable homes, and they knew how to work the land to get what they wanted and needed from it. Instead of teaching their children the invaluable lessons of knowing your need and dependence on God, they taught them all the practical skills needed to thrive in this new place. Before long, their children were not coming to know the Lord at all.
Hindsight is 20/20, as they say, and it is very clear-cut when we look back. The Puritans loved God, sought to honor Him and love one another and He blessed them. They were honored when they did not depend on themselves for anything. They slipped into self-reliance, and God had to remove His blessing. For a while, they remembered well enough to turn back to God in fasting and repentance when God's blessing was clearly removed. Then it would return and they would forget again. Soon their fasting was simply a matter of habit, a going through the motions. Their precious dependence on God was gone. And so was born the American tradition of independence. A sad story indeed.
There is much more to be gleaned from this fabulous book, but this is what is standing out to me right now. Let us choose to acknowledge the true and right relationship with our Creator. Let us let Him be all. Let us glory in the opportunity to simply be a vessel of His wonderful life. Let us recognize our entire dependence and need for Him.
First of all, I highly recommend both of these books: The Light and the Glory by Peter Marshall and David Manuel and Humility by Andrew Murray. Put them on your "to read" list (and read them!) and you won't be sorry :).
The main point that Andrew Murray makes in Humility is that the proper relation between a creature and his Creator is utter dependence. He says that divine humility is simply letting God be all. God created us to be vessels of His life.
Here is how he says it:
"When God created the universe, it was with the one object of making the creature partaker of His perfection and blessedness, and so showing forth in it the glory of His love and wisdom and power. God wished to reveal Himself in and through created beings by communicating to them as much of His own goodness and glory as they were capable of receiving. But this communication was not a giving to the creature something which it could 'possess' in itself -- a certain life or goodness of which it had the charge and disposal. By no means. But as God is the ever-living, ever-present, ever-acting One, who upholds all things by the word of His power, and in whom all things exist, the relation of the creature to God could only be one of unceasing, absolute, universal dependence."
As we are for every virtue, anything good, we are dependent on the life of Christ being manifested in us even to be humble and dependent on God. Jesus was and is the truly humble One.
The Light and the Glory is the story of God's plan for America. It is the product of two believers coming together to seek the Lord and study the history of America to find out the true story of the birth of our country. The chapter I read yesterday, chapter 14: God's Controversy with New England, was the heart-breaking record of the Puritans' falling away from their deep dependence on God within a generation or two of their escaping persecution in England to be a "city on a hill." As God blessed their former dependence on Him, as they became comfortable, where they had once needed God and each other for everything, now they had large, comfortable homes, and they knew how to work the land to get what they wanted and needed from it. Instead of teaching their children the invaluable lessons of knowing your need and dependence on God, they taught them all the practical skills needed to thrive in this new place. Before long, their children were not coming to know the Lord at all.
Hindsight is 20/20, as they say, and it is very clear-cut when we look back. The Puritans loved God, sought to honor Him and love one another and He blessed them. They were honored when they did not depend on themselves for anything. They slipped into self-reliance, and God had to remove His blessing. For a while, they remembered well enough to turn back to God in fasting and repentance when God's blessing was clearly removed. Then it would return and they would forget again. Soon their fasting was simply a matter of habit, a going through the motions. Their precious dependence on God was gone. And so was born the American tradition of independence. A sad story indeed.
There is much more to be gleaned from this fabulous book, but this is what is standing out to me right now. Let us choose to acknowledge the true and right relationship with our Creator. Let us let Him be all. Let us glory in the opportunity to simply be a vessel of His wonderful life. Let us recognize our entire dependence and need for Him.
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