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Self
“Not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord” (2 Corinthians 4:5)
One of the greatest hindrances to the work of the Spirit of God in the believer is self. Good self or bad self…self is still self. Self-esteem, self-worth, self-image, self-love, are at best the occupation with the wrong man, the very man whom God has set aside and condemned in the death of Christ. God is not attempting to improve man in the flesh. Instead He has introduced another Man, “the Man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5).
This is a hard lesson for us to learn: “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17).
We may well ask ourselves, “What should we do? How does this solve the problem?” First, we must realize and admit that “in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing” (Romans 7:18). Then as I learn how wretched the flesh in me is, I turn away from self and turn my eye of faith toward Christ. There I find an object of supreme delight, the One in whom God finds eternal joy and satisfaction.
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