“Bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ” (II.
Cor. x. 5).
If we would abide in Christ we must have no confidence in self.
Self-repression must be ever the prime necessity of divine fulness and
efficiency. Now you know how quickly you spring to the front when any
emergency arises. When something in which you are interested comes up, you
say what you think under some sudden impulse, and then perhaps you have
weeks of taking back your thought and taking the Lord’s instead. It is
only when we get out of the way of the Lord that He can use us. So, be out
of self, always suspending your will about everything until you have
looked at it and said: “Lord, what is your will? What is your thought
about it?”
Those who thus abide in Christ have the habit of reserve and quiet; they
are not rattling and reckless talkers, they will not always have an
opinion about everything, and they will not always know what they are
going to do. There will be a deferential holding back of judgment, and
walking softly with God. It is our headlong, impulsive spirit that keeps
us so constantly from hearing and following the Lord.