Minute Meditations

Napoleon once said, ”None but myself did me any harm.” To a much larger degree than most of us are prepared to admit, this is true of us as well. We are our own worst enemy. We do not to think this and usually we are ready to blame someone or something for all the things we did or did not do, but when we are alone with our thoughts we have to admit that really ”none but myself did me any harm.”

Surely Paul recognized this truth when he declared, ”O wretched man that I am!” To recognize this truth is half the battle in overcoming self. It is only when we try to whitewash our problems that we obscure them so that they are difficult to correct. When we openly admit that we are wretched, then we are in the position to ask for help which is exactly what Paul did. He asked the question, ”Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?”

The truth is that we are all so wretched because man is completely incapable of ever achieving salvation. With man this is impossible but with God all things are possible and so Paul acknowledged his own weaknesses as we also must, and he cast his burden upon the Lord knowing that He will comfort and sustain in time of need. This is exactly what he did, for Paul thanks God saying, ”I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” It is only when we stop relying upon the arm of flesh and put our faith and trust in the Lord that we begin to make headway against the things of this life.

It is not an easy thing to do. We live in a country and in an age when flesh is glorified .God has allowed man’s knowledge to increase and man has become puffed up by it. Puny man now not only ignores God but he also challenges Him. By this very act man is demonstrating the truth of Napoleon’s words. Because he is his own worst enemy, man now by his cleverness would like to exterminate the human race from the face of the earth. We can’t do much about the age in which we are living except to recognize its dangers and stay clear of its pitfalls. Just because everyone else is losing his head is no reason for us to relinquish ours.

If we do not learn for ourselves how wretched we are, we may find that the words of Jesus which were directed to the Church of Laodicea may apply to us. ”Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor and blind and naked; I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.”

The danger we face is in not knowing. Those who think that they are rich are not looking to God for help. After all, just look what they think they have! They think they need nothing when in reality they are really nothing and need everything.

There is only one place where we can buy gold tried in the fire. Only God through His Word has the eyesalve that can give us sight. When we stand therefore before the judgment seat of Christ we will have no one else to blame for what we did and what we left undone. ”None but myself did me any harm.” None but God can give us gold and white raiment.