The "I" Religion and the "Not I" Religion /
SIXTEEN The "I" Religion and the "Not I" Religion Foundation Text— I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ livesin me. The life I live in the body,
T live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. —Gal 2:20
"I no longer live, but Christ lives in me." In all living there is one principal center around which the life revolved, and for the sake of which it acts. Generally this center is the "I" or self.
Everything is calculated with reference to its influence on self, what gain or what improvement to one's personal standing or prospects will come from certain courses of action? How will it affect me ? These are the continual underlying questions. The Prodigal Son is an illustration of this.
When he came to his senses, he said, "How many of my father's hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.
—Lk 15:17-19 The son had no thought of the father's love or sorrow or longing; his only care was to get comfort and food for himself;
208 / The Open Secret and his expectations could rise no higher than to be a servant in his father's household, where he would find "food to spare."
This is always the first selfish way of the human heart; we do not consider how our heavenly Father loves us, and longs for us, and grieves over our wandering, and will rejoice at our return; but we ask what we shall get by returning, what personal gain will accrue to us, how much better off we shall be for giving our allegiance to Christ. It is the "I" religion only, that we can comprehend at first.
So he got up and went to his father.
"But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.
The son said to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son."
But the father said to his servants, "Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.
Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let's have a feast and celebrate.
For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found." So they began to celebrate. —Lk 15:20-24
In the father's embrace the "I" religion is swept away, and all thoughts of being a "hired man, with food to spare," vanish before the "best robe," and the "fattened calf," and the merry feast of welcome over "the son who was dead and is alive."
Sooner or later the child of God, ifhis spiritual life develops as it ought, comes to this place of insight, where thoughts of self vanish in the wondrous revelation of the Father's heart.
But the "I" religion is not lost all at once; nor is it confined only to the unenlightened sinner.
Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. "Your brother has come," he replied, "and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound."
The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. But he answered his father,
The 'T" Religion and the "Not I" Religion / 209 "Look! All these years Ive been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!"
"My son," the father said, "you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found."—Lk 15:25-32 The "elder brother," who lived at home with the father, and shared all his possessions, thought only of himself at this supreme moment of the father's joy, and had no sympathy with it. He felt himself to be badly used, and declared that his rights had not been recognized, nor his true merits appreciated.
"Look, all these years I've been slaving for you, and yet you never did such things for me." Self was uppermost still in the heart of this son, who yet had been in one sense a good son, faithful in his father's service. But it was the "I" religion still.
He could not forget himself.
There are some of God's children even now, who, like this "elder brother," in every emergency think of themselves first of all, and consider that their own rights and their own deserts ought always to have the first claim, both inwardly and outwardly.
"What do you want me to do for you?" he asked.
They replied, "Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory."...
When the ten heard about this, they became indignant with James and John. Jesus called them together and said, "You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.
—Mk 10:36-37, 41-45
210 / The Open Secret James and John were thinking of themselves. They wanted the highest places, and to be chief among their brethren, and they sought it by the way of the "I" religion. "Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory." Place, power, position, honor, glory, these are the considerations that move the soul in whom the "I" religion reigns. And such souls cannot even see that the only true honor and glory are to be found in the "not I" religion, where we become the greatest by being the servant of all.
Nobody should seek his own good, but the good of others.
—1 Cor 10:24
Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.
Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: / Who, being in very nature God, / did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, / but made himself nothing, / taking the very nature of a servant, / being made in human likeness. /
And being found in appearance as aman, / he humbled himself / and became obedient to death—even death on a cross!
—Phil 2:3-8 Paul knew both of these religions. While he was a Pharisee, he had been full of the "I" religion, and had made a great show in it. But when his eyes were opened to see the beauty of the "not I" religion, he counted all the other rubbish in comparison with it.
Though I myself have reasons for such confidence.
If anyone else thinks he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, ofthe people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless.
But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for
The 'T" Religion and the "Not I" Religion / 211 whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.—Phil 3:4-9 All that Paul had to say for himself, all that fine system of self-righteousness, all that "confidence in the flesh," that earnest "zeal," that blameless "righteousness" of which he had been so justly proud, all in his "I" religion, vanished into thin air at the sight of Christ, and the excellency that was in him.
Paul's big "I," which before had filled his whole horizon, wilted down into nothing before the revelation of God in the face of Jesus Christ. "I no longer live," he cried, "but Christ lives in me." He had learned the lesson of the "not I" religion.
My ears had heard of you / but now my eyes have seen you. / Therefore I despise myself / and repent in dust and ashes.
—Job 42:5-6 The book of Job is the story of the "I" religion, and the process of its change into the "not I" religion. Job was a good man at first, but not at first a spiritual man.
In the land of Uz there lived a man whose name was Job. This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned vila Then the Lord said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant
Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil."—Job 1:1, 8
Even God pronounced him to be "blameless and upright."
And yet Job was full of himself, his own goodness, his own honor, his own benevolence, his own reputation. Read for instance the twenty-ninth chapter and count the personal pronouns used there, and you will see that they are used fifty times. It is all J, me, my, from beginning to end; while God is referred to only three times.
Andis not this chapter a simple transcript of many chapters
212 / The Open Secret in the lives of some of God's most faithful servants, whose greatest delight is to dwell upon their own good deeds, or their own valuable possessions, and to recount them to others?
Have we any such chapters in the unwritten books of our autobiographies, dear readers? It may help us if we will marka line with ink underneath each I, me and my of this chapter in Job as a reminder of our similar chapters.
Contrast with these utterances of Job the words of David in the Psalms. Notice for instance Psalm 118.
Here the Lord is mentioned, with the pronouns he, his, him and you, forty-six times: and all that is said concerning J, me and my, is simply to set forth my need and my distress, and to show how the Lord helped and delivered. In the twenty-nine verses of this Psalm, all but four tell of something good or great that the Lord does.
I will exalt you, my God the King; / I will praise your name for ever and ever. / Every day I will praise you / and extol your name for ever and ever. / Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; / his greatness no one can fathom. / One generation will commend your works to another; / they will tell of your mighty acts. / They will speak of the glorious splendor of your majesty, / and I will meditate on your wonderful works. / They will tell of the power of your awesome works, / and I will proclaim your great deeds. /
They will celebrate your abundant goodness / and joyfully sing of your righteousness.—Ps 145:1-7 (Ps 105:1-2)
People are far more ready to "celebrate" the memory of their own abundant goodness than of God's. The book of Job is full of what I am. The book of Psalms is full of what God is.
Job expressed the feelings of a man who had great possessions. The Psalms express the feelings of aman who possessed nothing but the living God.
Contrast Job 1:3 with Psalm 73:25-26.
And he owned seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen and five hundred donkeys, and had a large number of servants. He was the greatest man among all the people of the East.—Job 1:3
The "T" Religion and the "Not I" Religion / 213 Whom have I in heaven but you? / And being with you, I desire nothing on earth. / My flesh and my heart may fail, / but God is the strength of my heart / and my portion forever. —Ps 73:25-26
Lord, you have assigned me my portion and my cup; / you have made my lot secure. / The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; / surely I have a delightful inheritance.
—Ps 16:5-6 To have the Lord for our portion is an "inheritance" far better than any of the great possessions of earth, and confers upon the soul infinitely greater honor.
The "I" religion justifies itself. The "not I" religion justifies God. Contrast Job 32:1-2 with Psalm 96.
So these three men stopped answering Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes. But Elihu son of Barakel the Buzite, of the family of Ram, became very angry with Job for justifying himself rather than God.—Job 32:1-2 Sing to the Lord a new song; / sing to the Lord, all the earth. /
Sing to the Lord, praise his name; / proclaim his salvation day after day. / Declare his glory among the nations, / his marvelous deeds among all peoples. / For great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; / he is to be feared above all gods. / For all the gods of the nations are idols, / but the Lord made the heavens. / Splendor and majesty are before him; / strength and glory are in his sanctuary. / Ascribe to the Lord, O families of nations, / ascribe to the Lord glory and strength. / Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; / bring an offering and come into his courts.
—Ps 96:1-8 Job was full of himself. The writer of the Psalms was full of the Lord. "Of thee, oh Lord, will I sing," is the language of the "not I" religion. "Of me, oh myself, will I sing," is the language of the "I" religion.
Job had to suffer the loss of all things, and out of this loss have a revelation of God, before he could get rid of the "I" religion.
The Lord said to Job: "Will the one who contends with the Almighty correct him?
214 / The Open Secret Let him who accuses God answer him!"
Then Job answered the Lord; "J am unworthy—how can I reply to you? / I put my hand over my mouth. / I spoke once, but I have no answer— / twice, but I will say no more." / Then the Lord spoke to Job out of the storm:
—Job 40:1-6 Then Job replied to the Lord: "I know that you can do all things; / no plan of yours can be thwarted. / You asked, 'Who is this that obscures my counsel without knowledge?' / Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, / things too wonderful for me to know. / You said, 'Listen now, and I will speak; / I will question you, / and you shall answer me.' / My ears had heard of you / but now my eyes have seen you. / Therefore I despise myself / and repent in dust and ashes."—Job 42:1-6 God took away all his possessions, everything in which he delighted, or upon which he could rest; and then "out of the storm" he answered Job with a revelation of himself.
And just so is it sometimes now in the lives of God's children who have great possessions, whether inward or outward. Only
"out of the storm" that has destroyed their possessions, can they have a revelation of God.
"All these I have kept," the young man said. "What do I still lack?"
Jesus answered, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."
When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.
Then Jesus said to his disciples, "I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."—Mt 19:20-24
To enter into the "kingdom of heaven," all dependence upon earthly riches, whether of money, or of reputation, or of good deeds, must be given up. The "poor in spirit" alone can
The "TI" Religion and the "Not I" Religion / 215 enter here. "To gain the whole world," in any sense, however subtle, is to lose one's soul in the same subtle sense.
Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?—Mk 8:34-37 There are some of God's own children who make great outward gains in things that minister to self, even in their religious lives; who have wonderful religious experiences, and do great religious works, and receive honor from all men; but who yet, in this gaining, have so degraded their finest impulses, and deadened their spiritual life, as to bury their souls under a mountain of selfhood, until they have to all intents and purposes "lost their life."
Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?"—Mt 16:24-26 (Lk 9:23-25)
The "not I" religion is the religion that denies self, that says to this "I," "I am a stranger to you and do not wish to have anything to do with you." It denies self, not in the sense of making self miserable, of setting self on a pinnacle and sticking prongs into it to hurt it; but in the sense of utterly refusing to recognize its claims or even its existence, and of enthroning the Christ-life in its stead always and everywhere.
To "take up the cross" does not mean to make this "I" miserable, as is too often thought. It means to put this "I" to death, to crucify it; not to make it suffer but to kill it outright.
216 / The Open Secret It means to lose our own self-life truly and literally, and to have the divine life, the life hid with Christ in God, to reign in its stead.
We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. .
In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.—Rom 6:4, 11 The only way out of the "I" religion into the "not I" religion is by the death of self. We must die that we may live.
We must cease to be alive to self, and must consent to be alive only to God. And this means practically that we literally are not to care how selfis treated, nor what self gains, nor what becomes of self, but only how God is treated, and what brings gain and joy to him. The trouble with all our religion is its tendency to selfishness. Its first and foremost thought is always for self; and this cannot but taint the whole character. if it is right to think of self first in the most sacred of all things, it cannot be wrong to think of self first in all minor things. We are continually seeking to save ourselves and to please ourselves.
Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, "So! You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, come down from the cross and save yourself!"
In the same way the chief priests and the teachers of the law mocked him among themselves. "He saved others," they said,
"but he can't save himself!—Mk 15:29-31 We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves. Each of us should please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. For even Christ did not please himself but, as it is written: "The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me."—Rom 15:1-3 Christ "saved others, but he cannot save himself." Christ
"did not please himself." And if we are living the Christ-life we
The "T" Religion and the "Not I" Religion / 217 shall know that we also are "not to please ourselves," nor to save ourselves, but are to save and to please others.
Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.—Gal 6:2
Alas! how far we are from this Christ-like burden bearing.
Our own burdens fill the whole horizon for us, and we can scarcely see, much less carry, the burdens of others. Indeed we often feel that, ifeveryone had their rights, ovr burdens and our needs would be recognized by all around us as being of paramount importance to all other things.
We will move heaven and earth in our efforts to save ourselves, and we will scarcely lift a finger to try to save or to please others. And this selfishness of our "I" religion taints our views of God. We are so selfish ourselves, that we are unable to give one single generous or unselfish attribute to him, and we think he must be all the time looking out for his rights and his glory, just as we are for ours. We are actually afraid to trust him to save us, because we know our own selfish unwillingness to save others. We think he is "altogether like us." This is the "I" religion.
You use your mouth for evil / and harness your tongue to deceit. / You speak continually against your brother / and slander your own mother's son. / These things you have done and I kept silent,
/ you thought I was altogether like you. / But I will rebuke you / and accuse you to your face.—Ps 50:19-21
Even Christians "speak continually," not of God's great goodness, but of their brother's great failures, and try to exalt themselves at their brother's expense. And naturally they transfer the same selfish characteristics to God, and think he also is entirely absorbed in the advancement of his own glory, no matter at whose expense it may have to be.
But the "not I" religion is just the opposite. It has handed self over bodily to death, and has ceased to be interested in it. It has forgotten self in its absorption in God. It expects nothing
218 / The Open Secret from self, but everything from God; and it demands nothing for self, but seeks to lavish all on the Lord.
When a woman who had lived a sinful life in that town learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee's house, she brought an alabaster jar of perfume, and as she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them. . . . Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, "Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time
I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little. —Lk 7:37-38, 44-48
The "not I" religion pours out its most precious gifts as a love offering upon its Lord, and asks for no return; but it receives most abundant and unexpected measure. This poor woman "who had lived a sinful life" never dreamed that she deserved anything, but she found herself overwhelmed with blessing.
To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: 'God,
I thank you that I am not like all other men—robbers, evil-doers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.'
"But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, 'God, have mercy on me, a sinner.'
I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."
—Lk 18:9-14 This Pharisee had the "I" religion. "I thank you that Iam not like all other men." The tax collector had nothing to say for
The "T" Religion and the "Not I" Religion / 219 himself, but that he was a needy sinner.
Some of the most religious people of the day are the greatest Pharisees; they have the most of the "I" religion. "I am right," they say, "and you, if you differ from me, are wrong. I ought to be put foremost, for I know best. Iam the one to have place and authority, for Iam the best fitted to assume it. My rights must be considered, for they are the most important." The "I" religion compels everything to come up to its own standard.
The "not I" religion covers all things with a mantle of Christlike love; it is patient and kind"; it "does not envy"; "it does not boast and is not proud"; it "is not self-seeking, and is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs"; "it always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres."
Such a person walks as Christ walked.
Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.—1 Jn 2:6
For it is commendable if a man bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because he is conscious of God. But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God. To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. / "He committed no sin, / and no deceit was found in his mouth." / When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly.—1 Pt 2:19-23
The "not I" religion bears injustice, and misunderstanding, and lack of appreciation, and revilings, and snubbings, and being spoken against, and having its name cast out as evil, with patience, and even often with joy.
Looking at his disciples, he said: / "Blessed are you who are poor, / for yours is the kingdom of God. / Blessed are you who hunger now, / for you will be satisfied. / Blessed are you who weep now, / for you will laugh. / Blessed are you when men hate you, / when they exclude you and insult you / and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man. / "Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is
220 / The Open Secret how their fathers treated the prophets. / "But woe to you who are rich, / for you have already received your comfort. / Woe to you who are well fed now, / for you will go hungry. / Woe to you who laugh now, / for you will mourn and weep. / Woe to you when all men speak well of you, / for that is how their fathers treated the false prophets.
"Bur I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you.
"If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' do that. And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' lend to 'sinners,' expecting to be repaid in full. But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back.
Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.—Lk 6:20-36
If the Christ-life is the reigning life in us, we shall do the works of Christ. If the self-life is the reigning life, we will do the works of self.
Which sort of works is it that we do?
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do: sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the just requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit.
—Rom 8:1-5 RSV
The "T" Religion and the "Not I" Religion / 221 The "I" religion is the religion of the flesh. The "not I" religion is the religion of the Spirit.
It is very possible to "walk according to the flesh," even in a religious life. If we are seeking for the highest places or the greatest honor in our church work or service, if we are standing up for our rights, if we are on the watch for affronts, and are keen to resent them, if we consider everything in its relation to ourselves, if we look out for our own interests first, if we provoke one another and envy one another; then, no matter how great may be our reputation for piety, we have never got beyond the "I" religion, and are in truth "walking according to the flesh."
The entire law is summed up in a single command: "Love your neighbor as yourself." If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.
So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law.
The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft, hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.
—Gal 5:14-26 To sum up the whole matter then, the choice is continually before us as to which form of religion ours shall be. Shall it be I who live, or not I? Shall it be self or Christ?
222 / The Open Secret This question confronts us at every moment of our living, and must be answered continually, either consciously or unconsciously. In each event that meets us, self clamors for recognition, and at each clamor it may be crucified and its claims ignored. Always and everywhere we may put off the old self of the "I" religion, and may put on the new self of the "not I" religion.
You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
—Eph 4:22-24 In all Christian experience there is a progress from the "I" religion to the "not I" religion. At first with all ofus it is land not Christ at all; then it becomes I and Christ; then it becomes
Christ first and only a little of I. But has it come yet with any of us, as it had to Paul when he wrote the verse which is the foundation of our lesson, to be Christ only and not I at all?
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Other Books of Interest from Servant Publications The Facts about Your Feelings What Every Christian Woman Should Know By Therese Cimer Practical help for solving the mystery of emotions. A life-long resource for women of every age and background. $4.95
The Savage My Kinsman By Elisabeth Elliot The true story of Elisabeth Elliot's venture into the territory of the Auca Indians of Ecuador—the same savage tribe that murdered her missionary husband three years earlier. $5.95
Do You Feel Alone in the Spirit?
By Ruth Sanford Loving God doesn't have to conflict with loving your husband. This best-selling book has helped thousands of women overcome the loneliness and discouragement that comes when their husbands do not share their commitment to Christ. $1.95
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Inspiration and Encouragement from the Author of The Christian's Secret of a Happy Life The Bible contains a secret — the secret of how to love God and follow him in living a joy-filled and fruitful life. You will find no better key to that secret than the writings of Hannah Whitall Smith, known to millions as the author of The Christian's Secret of - a Happy Life. The Open Secret, is a scriptural devotional based on the great themes of the Bible.
In it, the author shares her own personal reflections on such central themes of scripture as love, faith, service, trust, and God's faithfulness. To the weary she offers a word of refreshment, to the skeptical a word to convince, and to all God's faithful a message of hope. a
ISBN 0-89283-1595-2