Singleness of Eye # 2

Singleness of Eye # 2

It raises very many practical questions. Can we rejoice in the work of God without being the instrument, without feeling at all bad that we are not the instrument and just rejoice in the work without any place being given to us in it? Or in seeing the work of God being done and going on, do we at once get into it with self-pity or with our own ambition and desire to have some place in that, which is not a pure, utterly selfless desire, completely circumcised in heart? Can we rejoice and be thankful when the gospel is preached even of contention? You remember Paul, "Some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife...thinking to raise up affliction for me in my bonds" (Phil. 1:15-17). Oh, their motive! Unholy motive, the evil of that heart that is not singleness of eye, that is not purity of heart. But what was Paul's reaction, "There is something wrong here; people like that ought not to be allowed to preach the gospel. The Lord ought not to use that?" Paul said, "No, whether it be even of contention, whether it is with that evil motive, I rejoice that the gospel is preached anyway!" That is singleness of eye.

Can we be even used of the Lord in any way, many ways, not only in public ministry or spoken ministry, but in other ways - in practical service, in giving - and then disappear? Go right away at once behind the curtain? It is the Lord's interest, not ours - hands off; glad to be used, but out of sight at once, not peeping round to get the appreciation or thanks for what we have helped them. All such matters go to the heart of this whole question of singleness of eye. Can we let go, and stand right back? You must not misunderstand what I am saying because there is another way of interpreting it - being careless, indifferent, "Let them get on with it!" That is only another form to the contrary of purity of heart. But I mean being out of it ourselves, letting go.

A Sole Concern for the Glory of God

It opens up a wide field and involves in very many questions and matters, but it all amount to this, does one thing alone matter - the glory of God? It was the spirit of John the Baptist that made him so great - "He must increase, but I must decrease" (John 3:30). It was the spirit which made Paul so great a man before God: "I know how to be abased" (Phil. 4:12), to be left out, all this if only the Lord gets His place, gets His ends. This is purity of heart. "The pure in heart...shall see God" (Matt. 5:8). The one man in the Old Testament of whom it is said that he saw God was Moses. "Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men that were upon the face of the earth" (Num. 12:3). How utterly selfless in interest Moses was! That is why he saw God. He was pure in heart, pure from this insinuation of self-interest, concern for place, for notice, for gratification,satisfaction, or anything else. Oh, how selfish we are!! There is a lot bound up with this.

The One To Whom God Will Commit Himself

The Lord Jesus did come, and He did come to show in Himself the kind of person to whom God would commit Himself, to whom God would let go Himself. It is a tremendous thing for such as God to let himself go to someone else, commit Himself, so to speak, to put Himself into the hands of another with perfect assurance and content to say, "I can trust Myself with that one, I need not be reserved where they are concerned. I can give them My secrets, I can open up to them, with scope for service, ways of usefulness: I know quite well self will not come in there; it is safe." Who of us could say that of ourselves? I cannot; I do not think you can.

But what leads to this? Is it not our deep, agonizing concern before God that He will be able to commit Himself to us that we might be the more to His glory and more used by Him? Does that not concern you? Do you, with me, desire above all other things that the Lord should be able to be with us and to make us a blessing and to use us and to open the way before us, and not all the time to have to say, "I must go steady there, they are taking it into their own hands to get glory for themselves. They have become masters instead of servants?" Are you concerned about that? If you are not, of course this word has nothing for you, but if so, surely this is a word to our hearts. How will the Lord commit Himself? The Lord Jesus is the great example. He came to show, for God was with Him. That was the testimony of the apostles. He "went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with Him" (Acts 10:38).Oh, that is what popularity, the publicity, no, but just that God should get glory and have His way. He puts His finger upon the secret - the single eye, purity of heart.

~T. Austin-Sparks~

(continued with # 3)