September 4

Let love expel self

“The fruit of the Spirit is love” (Gal. 5:22).
“And the greatest of these is love” (1 Cor. 13:13—R.V.).

“The fruit of the Spirit is love.” Why? Because nothing but love can expel and conquer our selfishness. Self is the great curse, whether in its relation to God, or to our fellowmen, or to fellow Christians; thinking of ourselves and seeking our own. Self is our greatest curse. But, praise God, Christ came to redeem us from self. We sometimes talk about deliverance from the self-life—and praise God for every word that can be said about it to help us. But I am afraid some people think deliverance from the self-life means this: Now I am going to have no longer any trouble to myself in serving God; and they forget that deliverance from the self-life means to be a vessel overflowing with love to everybody all the day.


And there you have the reason why many people pray for the power of the Holy Ghost, and they get something, but, oh, so little, because they prayed for power for work, and power for blessing, but they have not prayed for power for full deliverance from self. That means not only the righteous self in intercourse with God, but the unloving self in intercourse with men. But there is deliverance. “The fruit of the Spirit is love.” I bring you the glorious promise of Christ, that He is able to fill our hearts with love.
—Andrew Murray.

Thy mighty Love, O God, constraineth me,
As some strong tide it presseth on its way,
Seeking a channel in my self-bound soul,
Yearning to sweep all barriers away.

Shall I not yield to that constraining power?
Shall I not say, O tide of Love, flow in?
My God, Thy gentleness hath conquered me,
Life cannot be as it hath hither been.

Break through my nature, mighty, heavenly Love,
Clear every avenue of thought and brain,
Flood my affections, purify my will,
Let nothing but Thine own pure life remain.

Thus wholly mastered and possessed by God,
Forth from my life, spontaneous and free,
Shall flow a stream of tenderness and grace—
Loving, because God loved, eternally.
—E. May Grimes.

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