2-3. Need, Then Supply
“Not as though I had already attained. . . but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also l am apprehended of Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3:12).
The heavenly Husbandman develops a believer on the same principle that He does a tree: planting, growth, consolidation, rest, and then more growth. There are stages. We are shown our sin and need—self. Then we hunger for freedom and life—Christ. This is a progression. At first, we consider the shocking revelation of self the greatest of calamities; later, we realize that it is the pathway to the blessed revelation of our life in the Lord Jesus Christ.
“Before we can take on the likeness of the Lord Jesus, we must see ourselves and know how we look; we must be brought into the place where we are not dismayed nor cast down when we discover how little we are conformed to His image. It is only as we see our need, that we can be supplied.” -C.McI.
“It does us no good, but only discourages us if we see our failures and shortages and do not behold the beauty of Christ, and apprehend and experience our sufficiency in Him. On the other hand, if we see only what we are in Him and do not discern our defects; if we do not apprehend that which must be appropriated and worked out in us; if we do not see all that must be put off, and that Christ must be put on in actual control and manifestation, we become self-satisfied and puffed up—we lose our invaluable ‘need.’” -C.McI.
“I certainly do count everything as loss compared with the priceless privilege of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord” (Phil. 3:8, Wms.).