TDR: 28 April (2 Corinthians 12:11)

‘Though I am nothing’ (2 Corinthians 12:11)

This was Paul’s estimate of himself: less than the least of all saints, and the chief of sinners. The more we know of ourselves and of Jesus, the more we shall be humbled in the dust before God; and the lower we lie before God, the happier and holier we shall be.

Humanity MUST be something; this is our pride and our misery. The Christian is willing to be NOTHING, that Christ may be all in all. If we daily felt that we were nothing, how many moments of despair we would be spared; what admiring views of the grace of God would fill and sanctify our souls.

Apart from Christ we are less than nothing, but in Christ we are SOMETHING. We are empty, but He fills us; naked, but He clothes us; helpless, but He strengthens us; lost, but He finds us; ruined, but He saves us; poor, but He supplies us.

All we are, is by Christ; all we have, is from Christ; all we shall be, is through Christ. Christian friend, you are nothing; therefore beware thinking too highly of yourself, or fancying that you deserve more than you receive, either from God or others.

Oh, could I lose myself in Thee,
Thy depth of mercy prove,
Thou vast unfathomable sea
Of unexhausted love!
I loathe myself when God I see,
Content if Christ exalted be.

THE DAILY REMEMBRANCER by James Smith (1802-1862)

Journal Jottings

‘For the next three months I preached at Clarence Gallery, to crowded congregations, and a good number were converted there. Our friends bought a freehold riding school in Regent Street, now called the Town Hall, and fitted it up to seat about six hundred people, which was opened on Jan. 1, 1836, and was soon crowded. Here I formed a church of one hundred and eleven members; but as we renounced strict communion, and decided to admit to the Lord’s table, all who gave evidence that they were the Lord’s people, of course our strict communion friends could not unite with us; these, with others who were attached to the old place, thinned our numbers, but still we had enough left to make a good beginning.

I took for my new year’s motto, “God is faithful,” and I have always proved Him so.’