Matthew 18:4 – “Whoever humbles himself like the child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”
Matthew 23:12 – “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”
Proverbs 23:4 – “Humility and fear of the Lord bring wealth, honor and life.”
1 Peter 5:6 - “Humble yourself, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.”
Psalm 126 – “Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy. He who goes out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with him.”
When Dr. Morrison wrote home from China asking for a young man to be sent out to help him, a young man eagerly offered his services. The committee before whom he appeared was not impressed. They turned him down. The young man seemed to be so sincere. They asked him if he would go out as a servant. “I am willing to do anything for my Lord,” he replied. Subsequently, this young man became a faithful missionary and founder and principal of the Anglo-Chinese College. He who humbles himself shall be exalted. It is as though Christ is saying, “Continue in me. Remain in me (in union with me). Dwell in me. Live in me.”
“Is it nothing to you all that pass by? Behold and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me, wherewith the Lord has afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger.” Sometimes as I sit at the Lord’s Supper, I ask myself, “What is the matter with me? How can I sit and contemplate the passion of the Savior and not be melted to tears?”
What does it mean to weep? The Lord looked at Peter and he wept. [Describe the sinful woman who washed the Savior’s feet with her tears, and wiped them with her hair, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with ointment.] See Luke 7:38. Although the woman lived on the other side of the cross, she was more attuned emotionally than many of us are with all our superior knowledge. Why are we like blocks of ice? Familiarity breeds contempt. “Reproach hath broken my heart.”
In our culture it is unmanly to weep. Beloved, it is not unmanly to weep in the shadow of the cross. Oh, that we could with Jeremiah pray, “Oh that my head were waters and my eyes a fountain of tears that I may weep day and night.” Jeremiah 9:1. Weep over the sufferings and death, which my sins brought on the sinless Savior. May the immortal words of Dr. Isaac Watts be ours:
“Well might I hide my blushing face,
while his dear cross appears;
dissolve my heart in thankfulness,
and melt my eyes to tears.”
May our prayer be, “Lord, deliver me from the curse of a dry-eyed Christianity.” How many of you are plunging about and struggling in the quagmire of helplessness and doubt? Each one of us should learn to place ourselves before God every day, as a vessel to be filled with his Holy Spirit.
Take time to read the Word as in His presence. Let the Word create around you and within you a holy atmosphere in which your soul will be refreshed and strengthened for the Lord’s work. Andrew Murray prayed, “May not a single moment of my life be spent outside the light, love and joy of God’s presence. And not a moment without the entire surrender of myself as a vessel for him to fill with His Spirit and love.”
Mary broke her alabaster jar of perfume and poured it, in its entirety, on the Lord. He never was more honored on earth than on this occasion. How many of us hardly ever break the alabaster jar. We bring it, and keep it, and take it away. There is no outpouring of our love, there is no fragrance in the house, there is no joy in our heart, but worst of all the Lord is left baffled, disappointed.
Most men are known for one conspicuous grace or virtue. Moses was known for his meekness, Job for his patience, and John for his love. But in Jesus Christ you find everything. His character was so perfectly balanced that there was neither excess nor deficiency. After the approval of heaven at Jordan came the assault of hell. After the dove, the devil. God writes with a pen that never blots, speaks with a tongue that never slips, acts with a hand that never fails. The entrance into the kingdom of heaven is nothing, the arrival subscription is everything.