Andrew Murray

Scripture tells us that man is God's temple (see 1 Cor. 3:16). In order to fully understand this analogy, we must recall the division of the Jewish temple into three parts.

There was its exterior, seen by all men, with the outer court, into which every Israelite might enter, and where all the external religious service was performed. There was the holy place, into which alone the priests might enter, to present to God the blood or the incense, the bread or the oil that they had brought from without.

Many people admit that it is a sacred duty and a blessed privilege to abide in Christ but shrink back continually before the question: Is a life of unbroken fellowship with the Savior truly possible? Eminent Christians, to whom special opportunities of cultivating this grace have been granted, may attain to it; but for the large majority of disciples, whose lives, by divine appointment, are so fully occupied with the affairs of this life, it can scarce be expected.

I believe every child of God is called to absolute surrender—a state in which he is completely yielded to his heavenly Father in every area of his life. We have heard it before, but we need to hear it very definitely—the condition of God’s blessing is absolute surrender of all into His hands. If our hearts are willing for that, there is no end to what God will do for us and to the blessing He will bestow.

Absolute surrender—let me tell you where I got those words. I used them myself often. But once, in Scotland, I was in a company where we were talking about the condition of the church and what the great need of believers is. There was in our company a godly Christian worker who trains other workers for Christ, and I asked him what He would say was the greatest need—the message that ought to be preached. He answered very quietly and simply and determinedly:

What a solemn thought, that our love for God will be measured by our everyday contact with men and the love it displays; and that our love for God will be found to be a delusion except as its truth is proved in standing the test of daily life with our fellow men!

It is even so with our humility. It is easy to think we humble ourselves before God, but humility toward men will be the only sufficient proof that our humility before God is real—that humility has taken up residence in us and become our very nature—that we actually, like Christ, have made ourselves of no reputation. When in the presence of God lowliness of heart has become not a posture in which we pray to Him but the very spirit of our life, it will manifest itself in all our bearing toward others.