SELF vaulted into the vacant throne!
(Octavius Winslow, "Midnight Harmonies") LISTEN to Audio! Download Audio
"Looking unto Jesus!" Hebrews 12:2
We must look away from ourselves. SELF is, perhaps, the most common and insidious object that comes between the eye of the soul and Jesus.
When God was ejected from the heart of man, SELF vaulted into the vacant throne and has ever since maintained a supremacy.
We must look from righteous self:
from all works of righteousness which we can perform,
from our almsgivings,
from our charities,
from our religious observances, our fastings, and prayers, and sacraments,
from all the works of the law by which we are seeking to be justified,
from all our efforts to make ourselves better,
and thus to do something to commend ourselves to the Divine notice, and to propitiate the Divine regard.
From all this we must look, if we rightly look unto Jesus to be saved by His righteousness, and by His alone.
"I once thought all these things were so very important, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the priceless gain of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I may have Christ and become one with Him. I no longer count on my own goodness or my ability to obey God's law, but I trust Christ to save me. For God's way of making us right with Himself depends on faith." Philippians 3:7-9