My Utmost for His Highest - November 13 - Faith and Experience

The Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me. — Galatians 2:20

We have to battle through our moods into absolute devotion to the Lord Jesus, to get out of the hole-and-corner business of our experience into abandoned devotion to Him. Think Who the New Testament says that Jesus Christ is, and then think of the despicable meanness* of the miserable faith we have — “I haven’t had this and that experience!” Think what faith in Jesus Christ claims — that He can present us faultless before the throne of God, unutterably pure, absolutely rectified and profoundly justified. Stand in implicit adoring faith in Him, He is “made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption (I Corinthians 1:30).” How can we talk of making a sacrifice for the Son of God! Our salvation is from hell and perdition, and then we talk about making sacrifices!

We have to get out into faith in Jesus Christ continually; not a prayer meeting Jesus Christ, nor a book Jesus Christ, but the New Testament Jesus Christ, Who is God Incarnate, and Who ought to strike us to His feet as dead. Our faith must be in the One from Whom our experience springs. Jesus Christ wants our absolute abandon of devotion to Himself. We never can experience Jesus Christ, nor ever hold Him within the compass of our own hearts, but our faith must be built in strong emphatic confidence in Him.

It is along this line that we see the rugged impatience of the Holy Ghost against unbelief. All our fears are wicked, and we fear because we will not nourish ourselves in our faith. How can any one who is identified with Jesus Christ suffer from doubt or fear! It ought to be an absolute psalm of perfectly irrepressible, triumphant belief.


*mean: as used here, something or someone ordinary, common, low, or ignoble, rather than cruel or spiteful.

My Thoughts

• It is true that I am a victim of my mood all too often, and what I am feeling at any given time, rather than focusing on my devotion and the commitment I have made to the Lord. 
• I often think I am doing something great if I make a sacrifice in my devotion with God, but the reality is that I have been saved from hell and eternal separation from God - and I have the gall to say that I am making sacrifices. 
• My faith should never be based upon experience, but instead complete confidence in Him. 
• My identity with Jesus Christ should make me never doubt or fear.