December 2 Daily Devotional

O hide this self from me, that I
No more, but Christ in me, may live!

(continued from p. 336)

Yes, but still narrower and still straiter; if we really want to come into this way of life, we have to leave our ‘self outside. And it is there of course that we come to the greatest stumbling-block of all. It is one thing to leave the world, and the way of the world; but the most important thing ... is to leave our self outside.... That is not being foolish; it is typical New Testament language. Self is the Adamic man, the fallen nature; and Christ says that he must be left outside. ‘Put off the old man’, that is, leave him outside the gate. There is no room for two men to go through this gate together, so the old man must be left behind....

The New Testament gospel is very humbling to self and to pride. At the beginning of the Sermon we are confronted by: ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit’. No natural man born into this world likes to be poor in spirit. We are by nature the exact opposite to that; we are all born with a proud nature, and the world does its best to encourage our pride from our very birth. The most difficult thing in the world is to become poor in spirit. It is humbling to pride, and yet it is essential. At the entrance to that strait gate there is a notice that says: ‘Leave yourself outside’. How can we bless them that curse us, and pray for them which despitefully use us, unless we have done this? How can we possibly follow our Lord, and be children of our Father which is in heaven, and love our enemies, if we are ... always defending and watching self and being concerned about it.... Self cannot possibly exist in this atmosphere; all along it must be crucified.... Have no illusion about this. If you think it is a life in which you are going to make a great name, and be praised, and one in which you are going to be made wonderful, you may as well stop at this point and go back to the beginning, for he who would enter by this gate must say goodbye to self.

Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, ii, pp. 224-5