{Saturday with Susan} Looking to Christ
Today’s post from A Life Hid with Christ in God is actually an excerpt of a letter written to Susan from her pastor. Susan had encouraged her friend to write to Pastor Clark because she had “found his letters very profitable.” Pastor Clark returned a letter to her friend, then to Susan:
“My dear friend…
“I have received a letter from Miss ___, which I almost immediately
answered. I had scarcely space upon a single sheet in saying to her what I
desired. I fear my letter was scarcely intelligible. I am satisfied that her
difficulty is that of a legal spirit. She does not look enough to Christ and His
finished work; but is inclined to search for some ground of acceptance in her
renewed nature.“The work which the Spirit performs in us is only the commencement of sanctification, and can never form the ground upon which we can rest any hopes that God will, on this account, be especially pleased with us. We are complete in Christ. God is pleased with us only in Him. We can never be accepted in any other way than ‘in the Beloved.’
“Our friend wants to find that she is more holy and less sinful than she was, and then she would be happy. Alas, the deeper we look into our depraved hearts, the more plainly shall we see the plague spots of sin; and we must go to Christ, and feel that our only hope is in Him.
“I asked her to write me again. She seems to have a most lovely spirit, and to be one of Christ’s own lambs. I have no doubt He will lead her very soon into the green pastures of enjoyment. The farther she advances, the more she will learn of the preciousness of Christ, and of the necessity of depending wholly upon Him.”
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