No Room for Boasting

[devotional at egwlists.whiteestate.org]

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            Ellen G. White Estate, Devotional for August 16
            Visit us at http://www.whiteestate.org
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No Room for Boasting

Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, 
and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for mine eyes have seen 
the King, the Lord of hosts. Isa. 6:5. 


Those who experience the sanctification of the Bible will manifest a spirit of 
humility. Like Moses, they have had a view of the awful majesty of holiness, 
and they see their own unworthiness in contrast with the purity and exalted 
perfection of the Infinite One. 

The prophet Daniel was an example of true sanctification. His long life was 
filled up with noble service for his Master. He was a man "greatly beloved" 
(Dan. 10:11) of Heaven. Yet instead of claiming to be pure and holy, this 
honored prophet identified himself with the really sinful of Israel as he 
pleaded before God in behalf of his people: "We do not present our 
supplications before thee for our righteousness, but for thy great 
mercies." "We have sinned, we have done wickedly." He declares: "I was 
speaking, and praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my 
people. . . . "(Dan. 9:18, 15, 20). 

When Job heard the voice of the Lord out of the whirlwind, he exclaimed: "I 
abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes" (Job 42:6). It was when Isaiah saw 
the glory of the Lord, and heard the cherubim crying, "Holy, holy, holy, is 
the Lord of hosts," that he cried out, "Woe is me! for I am undone" (Isa. 6:3, 
5). Paul, after he was caught up into the third heaven and heard things which 
it was not possible for a man to utter, speaks of himself as "less than the 
least of all saints" (2 Cor. 12:2-4, margin; Eph. 3:8). It was the beloved 
John, who leaned on Jesus' breast and beheld His glory, that fell as one dead 
before the feet of the angel (Rev. 1:17). 

There can be no self-exaltation, no boastful claim to freedom from sin, on the 
part of those who walk in the shadow of Calvary's cross. They feel that it was 
their sin which caused the agony that broke the heart of the Son of God, and 
this thought will lead them to self-abasement. Those who live nearest to Jesus 
discern most clearly the frailty and sinfulness of humanity, and their only 
hope is in the merit of a crucified and risen Savior. 


>From Maranatha - Page 236