The Low Place

From: Young Christian: Volume 21, 1931

From: Young Christian: Volume 30, 1940

• 1 min. read • grade level: 8

We live at a moment in which man is pushing himself upward and onward. “Excelsior” is a very popular motto just now. Let us look well to our mode of interpreting and applying it. “He that exalteth himself shall be abased.” If we are to be governed by the rule of God’s kingdom, we shall find that the only way to get up is to go down. The One who now occupies the very highest place in heaven is the One who voluntarily took the very lowest place on earth. See Philippians 2:5-11⁵Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: ⁶Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: ⁷But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: ⁸And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. ⁹Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: ¹⁰That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; ¹¹And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:5‑11).

Here is our example as Christians, and here too the divine antidote against the pride and restless ambition of the men of the world. Nothing is sadder than to witness a pushing, bustling, forward, self-confident spirit and style in those who profess to be followers of Him who was meek and lowly in heart. It is utterly impossible for anyone to indulge in this spirit if ever he has really measured himself in the presence of God. To be much alone with God is the sovereign remedy for pride and self-complacency. May we know the reality of this in the secret of our own souls. May the Lord keep us truly humble in all our ways, simply leaning on Himself, and very, very, little in our own eyes.

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Young Christian: Volume 21, 1931

• Blood of Jesus Christ Only, The

• Fragment: Labor, Not Rest

• Epistle to the Romans, The: Romans 14

• Low Place, The

• To Him That Overcometh

• Waiting Pilgrims

• Young People's Meeting, A: Part 1

• Christian's Hope, The

• One Step at a Time

• Fragment: The True Basis for Peace

• Correspondence: Works and Rest; 1 Pet. 3:19;John 13:1; To and Fro in Dan.12:4