“It is the Holy Spirit who turns our eyes and our thoughts entirely away for self and ‘unto Jesus’. It is the work of Satan on the other hand to turn our eyes back upon ourselves, for it is the evil one who is constantly encouraging us to put self first. He does this in two ways: he tells us, first of all, that we are too sinful, too depraved, that we cannot have enough faith or repentance, for God to save us. He tells us that we are too weak to hold out, that the Christian life will not bring us joy. On the other hand, Satan tells us that we are too important to humble ourselves in God’s sight, not bad enough to need God’s forgiveness.
On the opposite side of the picture, the Holy Spirit tells us that Christ is all and we are nothing, that it is not our hold upon Christ but His hold upon us that saves us. The Holy Spirit tells us that our joy is in Christ and not dependent upon outward circumstances, that our salvation is in Christ and not in any merit of our own. ‘Look unto Jesus,’ the Holy Spirit tells us–not to ourselves, not to our surroundings, not even to our loved ones. We can never find happiness by looking for it in our feelings, in our circumstances or even in our belief in Christ. Happiness is only to be found in Christ Himself. Iti is not what we are but what Christ is that gives us rest unto our souls.
The only way we can overcome Satan’s temptation to us to look to self is by ‘looking unto Jesus,’ keeping our eyes solely on Him. his death, His sufferings, merits and constant intercession for us at the Father’s right hand should be uppermost in our thoughts. It is Christ who is our Mainstay when we lie down for the night and when we awaken at daybreak.
….It is only by looking unto Jesus and contemplating the love of God revealed in Him that we can see vice in its true colors and come to know the joy of walking in His steps.”
Keith L. Brooks
Cross-Centered Quotes 