By
dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we
serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.
Romans 7:6
Service begins with
separation from the world, emancipation from the kingdom of this world, but it
is a very thoroughgoing thing. Oh, that the church would recognize this, that
God’s last word about this matter of emancipation and separation is “there
shall not a hoof be left behind” (Ex. 10:26). You see, Moses’ service was a
very thoroughgoing service, and it went that far, that not a hoof was left
behind, and that is service to God. "See that the people are utterly out,
and there is no link remaining."
Do remember that service
is always governed by this: a deep inward separation. It is not enough for us
to come out from the world and become parts of the people of God. Something
more than that is necessary. The whole self-life in us has got to be definitely
dealt with, and a great separation has to take place there. The impulsive, hot,
fiery Moses has to become the quiet, patient, meek Moses... learning, perhaps
above all things, meekness and patience. What a discipline of those forty years
of self-emptying. Presently when he really enters upon his life’s work, his
life service, one of the things that he will need most will be patience, and
there is nothing more calculated to produce patience than the discipline of
inaction. We do not learn patience when we can keep busy, when we can gratify
all our impulses by doing something. But when we are not allowed to do
anything, when we are cut off from ministry and work and service, and shut up
to the discipline of inaction and the discipline of delay, God is preparing for
better service than we would ever have fulfilled otherwise.
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