But love alone will not suffice; humility is needed that love may be
rightly directed. If humility be lacking, love unconsciously begins to
center in self. With a feeling of shame I confess that twice in my life
since becoming a Christian, I have lost the ballast of humility so that
love went astray. I thought to love God and be faithful; I thought that
I was attaining to greater love; but to my surprize, when the Holy
Spirit set my heart before me in the clear light of pure love, I found
within that awful, ghastly, defiling principle of self-love.
If your soul loves the perfect life, "humble yourself under the hand of
God" and "keep yourself in his love." After years of experiences and
some sad failures, I have found, with a greater certainty than ever,
that love ballasted by humility is the secret of a happy, holy life. I
trust that during the remaining days of my life my soul shall flourish
like the palm-tree, and grow strong like the cedars of Lebanon, and that
I shall develop into that greater fulness of God--into a more perfect
image of him.
Today I know that "God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth
in God, and God in him." As my inner man is renewed day by day, to my
spiritual eyes the ideal perfect life grows in loveliness. As I journey
on toward the setting of life's sun, I can see farther into the beyond,
catch clearer glimpses of unseen things, hear more distinctly the songs
of angels, scent in greater sweetness the fragrance from the flowers
that grow in that celestial land, and feel the beauty of the Lord
growing upon me. I have passed through the furnace flames; but God has
brought me through, and he will bring you through.