There is a similar quietness and calm and steadiness as He
deals with my soul.
So it is when He first saves me. For the most part, there is no stir when Christ revolutionizes my heart. Yet, as quiet and inexplicable as the work is it is thoroughly done. My mind is illuminated. My conscience convinces me of my sin. My heart is enlivened. My will is subdued. I awake, a new man in a new world of light and love, from which I shall never leave!
In the same way, my practical sanctification progresses gradually, rather than by leaps and bounds. My ascent up the strait and narrow way to the Celestial City is slower and more agonizing than I had dreamed. My day has cold in it, and tempest, and tears--as well as sunshine and warmth.
Yet He is ruling within me as the Teacher of my ignorance, the Finisher of my faith, the Gardener who matures my spiritual life, even if my growth takes time and my lot is troubled.
So it is when He first saves me. For the most part, there is no stir when Christ revolutionizes my heart. Yet, as quiet and inexplicable as the work is it is thoroughly done. My mind is illuminated. My conscience convinces me of my sin. My heart is enlivened. My will is subdued. I awake, a new man in a new world of light and love, from which I shall never leave!
In the same way, my practical sanctification progresses gradually, rather than by leaps and bounds. My ascent up the strait and narrow way to the Celestial City is slower and more agonizing than I had dreamed. My day has cold in it, and tempest, and tears--as well as sunshine and warmth.
Yet He is ruling within me as the Teacher of my ignorance, the Finisher of my faith, the Gardener who matures my spiritual life, even if my growth takes time and my lot is troubled.
[Alexander Smellie]
✞✞✞
Mark 4:28 ... For the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear.
Proverbs 4:18 ... But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.
Psalm 37:23-24 ...The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord: and he delighteth in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand.
Philippians 1:6 ... Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:❤
