The Blessed Life # 2

The Blessed Life # 2

If you cannot GIVE all, ask the Lord Jesus to TAKE all, and especially that which seems to hard to give. Many have been helped by hearing it put thus. Tell them to GIVE, and they shake their heads despondently. They are like the little child who told her mother that she had been trying to give Jesus her heart, but it wouldn't go. But ask them if they are willing for Him to come into their hearts and TAKE all, and they will joyfully assent.

Tennyson says, "Our wills are ours to make them Yours." But sometimes it seems impossible to shape them out so as to match every corner and angle of the will of God. What a relief it is at such a moment to hand the will over to Christ, telling Him that we are willing to be made willing to have His will in all things, and asking Him to melt our stubborn waywardness, to fashion our wills upon His and to bring us into perfect accord with Himself.

AN ACT OF FAITH

When we are willing that the Lord Jesus should take all, we must believe that He does take all. He does not wait for us to free ourselves from evil habits, or to make ourselves good, or to feel glad and happy. His one desire is that we should put our will on His side in everything. When this is done, He instantly enters the surrendered heart and begins His blessed work of renovation and renewal. From the very moment of consecration, though it be done in much feebleness and with slender appreciation of its entire meaning. The spirit may begin to say with new emphasis, "I am His, Glory to God, I am His!" As soon as the gift is laid on the alter, the fire falls.

It is well to make the act of consecration a definite one in our spiritual history. George Whitefield did it in the ordination service. "I can call heaven and earth to witness that when the Bishop laid his hand upon me, I gave myself up to be a martyr for Him who hung upon the Cross for me. Known unto Him are all the future events and contingencies. I have thrown myself blindfolded and without reserve into His almighty hands."

Christmas Evans did it as he was climbing a lonely and mountainous road toward Cader Idris. "I was weary of a cold heart toward Christ, and began to pray, and soon felt the fetters loosening. Tears fell copiously, and I was constrained to cry out for the gracious visits of God. Then I resigned myself to Christ, body and soul, gifts and labors, all my life, every day and every hour that remained to me; and all my cares I committed to Christ."

The visit of Stanley Smith and C. T. Studd to Melbourne Hall will always mark an epoch in my own life. Before then my Christian life had been spasmodic and fitful, now flaming up with enthusiasm, and then pacing weariedly over leagues of gray ashes and cold cinders. I saw that these young men had something which I had not, but which was within them a constant source of rest and strength and joy. At seven a.m. on that gray November morning, daylight flickered into the bedroom, paling the dwindled candles which from a very early hour had been lighting up the page of Scripture, and revealed the figures of these devoted Bible students. The talk we held then was one of the formative influences of my life. Why should I not yield my whole nature to God, working out day by day that which He would will and work within? Why should not I be a vessel, though only of earthenware, meet for the Master's use, because purged and sanctified?

There was nothing new in what they told me. They said that a man must not only believe in Christ for final salvation, but must trust Him for victory over every sin and for deliverance from every care. They said that the Lord Jesus was willing to abide in the heart which was wholly yielded up to Him. They said that if there were some things in our lives that made it difficult for us to surrender our whole nature to Christ, yet if we were willing to be made willing to surrender them, He would make us not only willing but glad. They said that as soon as we give or attempt to give ourselves to Him, He takes us. All this was simple enough; I could have said it myself. But they urged me to take the definite step and I shall be forever thankful that they did.

Very memorable was the night when I came to close quarters with God. The angel that wrestled with Jacob had found me, eager to make me a prince. There were things in my heart and life which I felt were questionable, if not worse. I knew that God had a controversy with respect to them. I saw that my very dislike to probe or touch them was a clear indication that there was mischief lurking beneath. At the same time, I did not feel willing to give these things up. It was a long struggle. At last I said feebly, "Lord, I am willing to be made willing. I am desirous that Your will should be done in me and through me as thoroughly as it is done in heaven. Come and take me and break me and make me."

That was the hour of crisis; and when it had passed, I felt able at once to add, "And now I give myself to You; body, soul and spirit; in sorrow or in joy; in the dark or in the light; in life or in death; to be Yours only, wholly, and forever. Make the most of me that can be made for Your glory."

No rapture or rush of joy came to assure me that the gift was accepted. I left the place with almost a heavy heart. I simply assured myself that He must have taken that which I had given, and at the moment of my giving it. And to that belief I clung in all the days that followed, constantly repeating to myself the words, "I am His." And thus at last the joy and rest, victory and freedom from burdening care, entered my heart, and I found that He was molding my will and making it easy to do what I thought was impossible. I felt that He was leading me into the paths of righteousness for His name's sake, but so gently as to be almost imperceptible to my weak sight.

Out of my own experience, I would suggest these six rules to fellow Christians - 

1. Make a definite consecration of yourselves to God. With most it would be sufficient to write out Miss Havergal's hymn, "Take my life, and let it be," and to sign your name at the bottom. But in any case it is well to write down some record of the act to keep for future reference. And if we go astray, we may ask the Lord to forgive the foul wrong and robbery which we have done Him, and to restore our souls into the position from which we have fallen. Oh, how sweet the promise, "He restores my soul"! Dear Christian reader, seek some quite spot, some still hour, and yield yourself to God.

2. Tell God that you are willing to be made willing about all. Are you willing to sign your name to a blank sheet of paper and then hand it over to God for Him to fill in as He pleases? If not, ask Him to make you willing and able to do this and all things else. You will never be happy until you let the Lord Jesus keep the house of your nature, closely scrutinizing every visitor and admitting only His friends. He must reign. He must have all or none. He must have the key to every closet, and of every room. Do not try to make them fit for Him. Simply give Him the key, and He will cleanse and renovate and make beautiful.

3. Reckon on Christ to do His part perfectly. As you give, He takes. As you open the door, He enters. As you roll back the floodgates, He pours in a glorious tide of fullness - fullness of spiritual wealth, of power, of joy. Oh, to be susceptible to the molding influences of Christ! We shall not fail in realizing the highest ideal of which we are capable if only we will let Him do His work unhindered.

4. Confess sin instantly! If you allow sin to remain on your heart unconfessed, it will eat out all peace and rest. The blood of Jesus is ever at work, cleansing us from unconscious sin; but it is our part to apply for it to cleanse from conscious and known sins as soon as we are aware of their presence in our lives.

5. Hand over to Christ every temptation and care. When you feel temptation approaching then instantly lift your heart to Christ for deliverance. He cannot rebuff you or fail you. And when any petty annoyance or heavier worry threatens to mar your peace, in the flash of a moment, hand it over to Jesus, saying, "Lord, I am oppressed; undertake this for me." Look to Christ to abide in you as to keep your abiding. In the early morning entrust to Him the keeping of your soul, and then, as hour succeeds hour, expect Him to keep that which you have committed unto Him.

~F. B. Meyer~

(continued with # 3)