Thursday, April 9, 2009

stop tinkering and look

It's time to stop looking at myself and start looking at Christ!

It's so easy to spend my whole time examining myself and my thoughts and emotions, trying to change myself and prove myself worthy of God's love, and feeling a haunting sense of failure because I will never measure up. How much better to look at the one who died for me!

I don't need to earn God's love and approval: it's already mine in Christ. I don't need to be good enough for God: he sees me covered by the perfect righteousness of his Son. I don't need to keep striving to prove myself to me, others, or God: I can rest in the grace of God which is mine through the death of Jesus.

Robert Murray M'Cheyne said, "For every look at self, take ten looks at Christ."

Here's another quote I love:

While we are looking at God we do not see ourselves - blessed riddance. The man who has struggled to purify himself and has had nothing but repeated failures will experience real relief when he stops tinkering with his soul and looks away to the perfect One. While he looks at Christ, the very thing he has so long been trying to do will be getting done within him. (AW Tozer "The Pursuit of God" 85 HT Of First Importance my emphasis)
So you'll notice a new verse at the top right hand side of this blog: "I have resolved to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified" (1 Cor 2:2).

Just in time for Easter!

image is from stock.xchng

1 comment:

Meredith said...

Hello dear Jean,

Thankyou for the Robert Murray M'Cheyne quote. "For every look at self, take ten looks at Christ." Marvellous. I haven't heard that before but I SO need to hear it at the moment. So much so that I am going to copy it out and put it on my fridge so that I can see it many times each day.

Certainly just in time for Easter. Thankyou.

Have a refreshing and joyous Easter.

~Meredith xx