Galatians 2:20
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives
in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who
loved me and gave himself for me.
To be specific, the self-sins are self-righteousness, self-pity,
self-confidence, self-sufficiency, self-admiration, self-love and a host of
others like them. They dwell too deep within us and are too much a part of our
natures to come to our attention till the light of God is focused upon them.
The grosser manifestations of these sins–egotism, exhibitionism,
self-promotion–are strangely tolerated in Christian leaders, even in circles of
impeccable orthodoxy.
They are so much in evidence as actually, for many people, to
become identified with the gospel. I trust it is not a cynical observation to
say that they appear these days to be a requisite for popularity in some
sections of the church visible. Promoting self under the guise of promoting
Christ is currently so common as to excite little notice….
Self is the opaque veil that hides the face of God from us. It
can be removed only in spiritual experience, never by mere instruction. We may
as well try to instruct leprosy out of our system. There must be a work of God
in destruction before we are free. We must invite the cross to do its deadly
work within us. We must bring our self-sins to the cross for
judgment. POG043-044.
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