Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me;
for I am meek and lowly in heart; and you shall find rest for your
souls. Matthew 11:29
A page in
church history reveals that the godly Macarius of Optino was once told that his
spiritual counsel had been helpful.
“This
cannot be,” Macarius wrote in reply. “Only the mistakes are mine. All good
advice is the advice of the Spirit of God; His advice that I happen to have
heard rightly and to have passed on without distorting it.”
There is
an excellent lesson here which we must not allow to go unregarded. It is the
sweet humility of the man of God who was enabled to say, “Only the mistakes are
mine.”
He was
fully convinced that his own efforts could result only in mistakes and that any
good that came of his advice must be the work of the Holy Spirit operating
within him.
Apparently
this was more than a sudden impulse of self-depreciation, which the proudest of
men may at times feel; it was rather a settled conviction that gave set and
direction to his entire life. His long and humble ministry which brought
spiritual aid to many reveals this clearly enough.
It is our
belief that the evangelical movement will continue to drift farther and farther
from the New Testament position unless its leadership passes from the modern
religious star to the self-effacing saint who asks for no praise and seeks no
place, happy only when the glory is attributed to God and himself forgotten!
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