"The best that I can hope is that this has just opened a window, and that as you look through it you are seeing one thing - how superior is Jesus Christ to all else!"
- T. Austin-Sparks
March 15
God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him. (Colossians 1:19 NIV)
The next thing I am going to
say may be difficult to accept, just as it is difficult to say, and yet
faithfulness demands that things like this should be said. There is going to be
a tremendous surprise one day over this matter. There is a tremendous amount of
energy, and activity, and machinery, and zeal and devotion in the work of the
Lord, in the service of the Lord, which seems to be producing something quite
big, and carrying on something quite extensive. It is not for us to judge, but
it is for us to lay down laws and recognize those laws, or, rather, recognize
laws that are laid down by God. When eventually all work, all service, all
activity, is weighed in the balances, which will determine what abides forever
or passes away forever, all that which was merely human energy for God
will go; all that which was merely man's enterprise for the Lord will go; all
that which was in any way out from man himself, even though in devotion to God,
will go. Only that which was the energy of Christ, the wisdom of Christ, the
power of Christ, will remain. God is not using your energies and my energies. He
is calling upon us to use the energies of Christ. God cannot set His seal upon
anything that is of man.
God's seal only rests upon that which is of His Son,
and we must not say that because a thing is big, extensive, and seems to
be a great work for God, that it necessarily is such. What we have got to be
quite sure about is that that thing is not being carried on by the momentum of
man, or the momentum of organization, the momentum of machinery, the momentum of
human zeal and energy for God, nor by the momentum of a program, but that it is
being energized by the Holy Ghost, that it is Christ Himself who is the Life and
the power of that thing. In so far as human personalities, energies and all that
kind of thing are the mainspring, we may be sure that in the end there is going
to be a good deal that goes. That can be seen as you look back over the history
of things which claimed to represent God. The object of saying this is not for one moment to cast a cloud of suspicion or
doubt over anything, but it is to emphasize this truth, this basic truth. It is
along the line of jealousy for Christ. Nothing will remain in this universe
eventually but what is Christ, and we must recognize that everything for God's
ultimate purpose is bound up with and in Christ, and it IS Christ.
Daily Open Windows messages have been selected from the works of T. Austin-Sparks. In some cases they appear in abridged form. The introductory verse and its associated Bible version have been selected by the website editor and did not always appear within the original message. In keeping with T. Austin-Sparks' wishes that what was freely received should be freely given and not sold for profit, and that his messages be reproduced word for word, we ask if you choose to share these messages with others, to please respect his wishes and offer them freely - free of any changes, free of any charge (except necessary distribution costs) and with this statement included.