Pondering Knoll: I have nothing to offer but Christ

Monday, September 16, 2013

I have nothing to offer but Christ

I have nothing, apart from Christ.
I have no love, apart from Christ.
I have no joy, apart from Christ.
I have no peace, apart from Christ.
I have no patience, apart from Christ.
I have no kindness, apart from Christ.
I have no goodness, apart from Christ.
I have no faithfulness, apart from Christ.
I have no gentleness, apart from Christ.
I have no self-control, apart from Christ.

Apart from Christ, I have nothing to offer you.
Apart from Christ, I have no love of my own to give you, for my love will grow cold.

Apart from Christ, I have no joy to brighten you with, for my own joy will fade into darkness.

Apart from Christ, I have no peace to bring you, for my own peace will turn into war.

Apart from Christ, I have no patience to bear you with, for my own patience will collapse in its short-temper.

Apart from Christ, I have no kindness to bless you with, for my own kindness will become selfish.

Apart from Christ, I have no goodness to display for you, for my own goodness is self-righteousness and pride.

Apart from Christ, I have no faithfulness to promise you, for my own faithfulness, in time, will betray you.

Apart from Christ, I have no gentleness to comfort you with, for my own gentleness will eventually harden and fail you.

Apart from Christ, I have no self-control, for my own self-control will be overtaken by lust.

My hands are empty. I am a sinner. Yes, I have been saved by God's grace through faith, but I am still a sinner yet saved by His grace. I have absolutely nothing to offer you except for Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

Christ is offering you everything. Take His everything.
Christ is offering you love. Take His love.
Christ is offering you joy. Take His joy.
Christ is offering you peace. Take His peace.
Christ is offering you patience. Take His patience.
Christ is offering you kindness. Take His kindness.
Christ is offering you goodness. Take His goodness.
Christ is offering you faithfulness. Take His faithfulness.
Christ is offering you gentleness. Take His gentleness.
Christ is offering you self-control. Take His self-control.

Do not need me, need Christ. Do not follow me, follow Christ. Do not lift me up, lift up Christ. Do not look at me, look at Christ.

Together, let us need Him and Him alone! Together, let us follow Him and Him alone! Together, let us lift Him up and Him alone! Together, let us see Him and Him alone!

Oh, to be found in Him.

"God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence. But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God--and righteousness and sanctification and redemption-- that, as it is written, 'He who glories, let him glory in the LORD.'"

1 Corinthians 1:27-31

“In order to be a disciple we must deny ourselves - this is to exercise authority over our own spirit. We must take up the cross - this is to submit to Christ’s authority. And we must follow - this is continued obedience. This is the road not to confinement, to bondage, to a stunted or arrested development, but to total personal freedom. It means not death but life, not a narrowly circumscribed life but “abundant” life. The gate is narrow but not the life. The gate opens out into largeness of life.”

-Elisabeth Elliot

“No sigh ever reached the Most High, except through Christ—I mean so as to move His heart to pour out His grace. Prayers, groans, tears, all these are like arrows without a bow, till Christ comes and fits them to the string, and shoots them home for you and me. All our prayers are like a victim, with the wood and altar; Christ must bring the fire, and then the sacrifice smokes to heaven. He is the messenger. Oh Christian, do you not rejoice in Him then as the Messenger of the Covenant? He is doing thy errands before the throne tonight, pleading for me, pleading for you."

~C. H. Spurgeon

“Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might, He increases strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall, but those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.”

Isaiah 40:28-31

"...The central place of faith in Christianity, and its significance...is precisely that which, on man's side, adjusts him to the living and merciful presence and action of a trusted God. In its nature, not by any mere arbitrary arrangement, it is his one possible receptive attitude, that in which he brings nothing, so that he may receive all. Thus "faith" is our side of union with Christ. And thus it is our means of possessing all His benefits, pardon, justification, purification, life, peace, glory."

-Handley Dunelm