07 May Setting Self Aside
“We must be emptied of self before we can be filled with grace; we must be stripped of our rags before we can be clothed with righteousness; we must be unclothed that we may be clothed; wounded, that we may be healed; killed, that we may be made alive; buried in disgrace, that we may rise in holy glory. These words, “Sown in corruption, that we may be raised in incorruption; sown in dishonor, that we may be raised in glory; sown in weakness, that we may be raised in power,” are as true of the soul as of the body. To borrow an illustration from surgeon’s art: the bone that is set wrong must be broken again, in order that it might be set aright. I press this true on your attention. It is certain that a soul filled with self has no room for God; and like the inn at Bethlehem, crowded with meaner guest, a heart pre-occupied by pride and her godless train, has no chamber within which Christ may be born in us “the hope of glory.” (Guthrie —–Late Eighteenth Century)
Remember this, but for pride, the angels who are in Hell, should be in Heaven. Pride will destroy the soul.
Elder Paul Jackson