The New Life

—
The New Life.
They know not that they must be nothing before
God.^ You think that you have still a little strength,
and that the Father must help you by adding something
of His own power to your feeble energ}\ This
thought is wrong. Your weakness appears in the
fact that you can do nothing. It is better to speak of
utter inability—that is what the Scriptures understand
by the word "weakness. " "Apart from me ye
can do nothing," ** In us
"^
is no power."
Whenever the young Christian acknowledges and
assents to this his weakness, then he learns to understand
the secret of the power of Jesus. He then sees
that he is not to wait and pray to become stronger,
to feel stronger. No : in his inability, he is to have
the power of Jesus. By faith he is to receive it ; he
is to reckon that it is for him, and that Jesus Himself
will work in and by him.^ It then becomes clear to
him what the Lord means when He says, My ** power
is made perfect in your weakness." He knows to
return the answer, " When I am weak, then am I
Yea, the weaker I am, the
yea, then am I—strong."
stronger I become. And he learns to sing with Paul,
" I shall glory in my weakneaees." " I take pleasure
in weaknesses." "We rejoice when we are weak." *
It is wonderful how glorious that life of faith becomes
for him who is content to have nothing, or feel
nothing, in himself, and always to live on the power
1 Rom. iv. 4, 5, xi. 6
; i Cor. i. 27, 28.
22 Chron. xvi 9, xx. 12 ;
John v. 19, xv. 5 2 Cor. i. 9.
;
8 John XV. 5
; 1 Cor. i. 24, xv. 10; Eph. i. 18, 19 Col i. 11.
;
*2 Cor. xi. 30, xii. 9, 11, xiii 4, 9.