keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.

Jude 1:21

I’m not loved because I’m somebody,

I’m somebody because I’m loved.

B.M.S.

. . . and him that comes to me I will in no way cast out.

John 6:37b

The measure of our yielding is the measure of our human life. It includes everything inside: spirit, mind, heart, will, affections. It includes everything outside: home, children, possessions, occupation. It includes everything  allied: friendships, time, money, pleasures, life plans.

It includes our past, present and future. No matter what the past has held of sin, sorrow or self, it is all handed over to Christ in a once-and-for-all committal. But some can surrender the past who find it difficult to yield the present to Christ’s control. There is the desire to reserve a bit of ground. Others can surrender the past and present because driven to it by disheartenment or desperation but they are fearful to put the future wholly into His keeping. How do they know that God can be trusted to be faithful or that they desire to live under His absolute sway for all times?

When giving a message on the yielded life at a conference I noticed the anxious, troubled face of a woman on the front seat. I said, “You are able to trust July to God but fearful to put September into His keeping.” Her face lighted up with a smile which was in truth an acknowledgement of being caught in the very act of worry.

After the meeting, she said, “That remark about committing September to the Lord hit me. I could be very happy here, now; but I  must have an operation in September and I have only half enjoyed this beautiful place because I am worrying over September!”

Yielding includes our worst and our best. Some find it very difficult to believe that God can accept or want them because there is so much “the worst” that persists in their lives. But “Him that comes to me I will in no way cast out” is an invitation extended to the sinning saint as truly as to the sinner.

Grace abounds from the beginning clear through to the end of our lives. So no matter how often we have repeated the same sin, if we come yielding ourselves unconditionally to Him, He waits to receive us, and the blood of Jesus Christ is equal to any demand made upon it for cleansing.

Ruth Paxson

But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.

2 Corinthians 4:7

It is cause for great gratitude to God that no human weakness need limit the divine power. We are apt to think that where sadness exists, there joy cannot exist; that where there are tears, there cannot be praise; that where weakness is present, power must be absent; that where there is doubt, there cannot be faith. But let me proclaim this with a clear voice, that God is seeking to bring us to the point where we recognize that all that is of man is only intended to provide an earthen vessel to contain the divine treasure. Henceforth when we are conscious of depression, let us not give way to depression, but to the Lord; and the treasure will shine forth all the more gloriously because of the earthen vessel. Herein lies the glory of Christianity, that God’s treasure can be manifest in every earthen vessel. Christianity is a paradox, and it is as we Christians live in this paradoxical life that we get to know God. The further we go on in the Christian life, the more paradoxical it becomes. The treasure becomes increasingly manifest, but the earthen vessel is the earthen vessel still.

People who are naturally weak are always apt to think they are no good because of the earthen quality of the vessel; but there is no need for dejection since the treasure within the vessel is of such a quality as to shine forth with added splendor from within such a vessel.

Brothers and Sisters, let me say once again that the whole question is one of the quality of the treasure, not the quality of the vessel that contains it. It is folly to stress the negative aspect; our concern is with the positive. The Lord is able to manifest Himself in the life of every one of us, and when that comes to past many will behold the treasure.

Watchman Nee

Then little children were brought to Him that He might put His hands on them and pray, but the disciples rebuked them. But Jesus said, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven.”

Matthew 19:13-14

There are no people so hard to teach as those who imagine they are more advanced than they are.

J.B. Stoney

In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will

Ephesians 1:11

We are constantly ensnared by looking at secondary causes – we do not realize God in everything. Were we more alive to the fact that there is not an event which happens to us, from morning to night, in which the voice of our Father may not be heard, His hand seen, with what a blessed atmosphere would it surround us! Man and circumstances would then be received as so many agents and instruments in our Father’s hand; so many ingredients in His cup for us. Thus would our minds be solemnized, our spirits calmed, our hearts subdued.

C.A. Coates