John Newton, et al.
Jeremiah 45:5, “Are you seeking great things for yourself? Don’t do it!”
True spiritual maturity is not attained by self-confidence, but by increasing humility. The nearer a believer draws to Jesus, the more clearly he sees the infinite holiness of the Lord, and his own utter sinfulness. John Newton, the once-blind wretch who was made to see, captured this spiritual paradox with profound simplicity:
Young Christians think themselves little;
growing Christians think themselves nothing;
mature Christians think themselves less than nothing.
The newborn Christian, freshly awakened by grace, is rightly humbled. He sees that he is not what he once was, and rejoices in the mercy that saved him. He thinks himself LITTLE–small compared to the greatness of the gift he’s received.
But as he grows, trials deepen, sin’s deceitfulness is more fully exposed, and the battle against the ‘old man’ intensifies. The Christian begins to understand that in his flesh there dwells no good thing (Romans 7:18). He no longer thinks himself little–he thinks himself NOTHING. And yet, by this humbling, Jesus becomes more precious.
Then, through years of chastening, refining, and communion with God, the mature believer–like Paul–confesses himself to be “less than the least of all God’s people” (Ephesians 3:8). He realizes that even his best deeds are stained with sin, that all his righteousness is as filthy rags, and that apart from Jesus he is LESS THAN NOTHING. Yet this is not despair–it is joy.
For the smaller he becomes in his own eyes, the greater Jesus becomes to his soul.
This is the path of grace: downward in self, and upward in Jesus. The more we are emptied of self, the more we are filled with Jesus.The full-grown Christian glories not in self-worth, but in the cross; not in his personal virtues, but in God’s saving grace.
Paul said, “By the grace of God, I am what I am” (1 Corinthians 15:10). The mature believer knows this, not just as doctrine, but as daily experience. He rests in the truth that though he is nothing, Jesus is everything–and that is enough.
The highest spiritual stature is seen in the man bowed low before the Lord, who fully understands that he is an un-deserving, ill-deserving, Hell-deserving sinner–and marvels that Jesus would love him still.
Let us press on, then–not to exalt ourselves, but to be made nothing–that Jesus might be all in all.
“For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled; and he who humbles himself will be exalted!” Luke 18:14
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