“For one take a look at your self, take ten seems to be at Christ!”
This memorable line from Robert Murray M‘Cheyne (1813–1843) has drawn many Christians out of the cellar of morbid introspection. A few of us as soon as lived in that cellar — bent down double, curved concave, scrutinizing, analyzing, paralyzing. For each one take a look at Christ, we took ten at self.
However then the Spirit started to unbend us, convex us. He despatched a buddy, gave us a passage, or maybe used M‘Cheyne’s well-known line to elevate us up and out to Christ. Self-scrutiny regularly gave approach to Christ-scrutiny. We dared to imagine that taking ten seems to be at him was higher and safer than taking ten seems to be inside. So, we seemed and seemed and seemed — ten occasions and extra.
I’ve no want to discourage such “trying to Jesus” (Hebrews 12:2). On the similar time, nonetheless, I do marvel if M‘Cheyne’s quote has typically been taken in methods he didn’t fairly intend. We would learn his counsel and assume he gave little or no place to introspection — that he countered each inward flip with “Christ! Look to Christ!” And so we’d try for a similar angle.
However for all of M‘Cheyne’s exceptional Christ-centeredness, the person was not afraid to look at himself, and sometimes with shocking rigor. The truth is, M‘Cheyne believed that the proper of introspection might really serve his sight of Christ. He knew that one good take a look at self has the potential to make our ten seems to be at Christ all of the sweeter, stronger, and extra splendidly particular.
Godly introspection is a street, not a room, that ever takes us to the identical wonderful place: Jesus. And as we be taught from M‘Cheyne, a number of the finest sights of Christ come on the finish of that street.
One Look Inside
“I’m persuaded that I must confess my sins extra,” M‘Cheyne wrote close to the top of his life. “I feel I ought at sure occasions of the day — my finest occasions — say, after breakfast and after tea — to admit solemnly the sins of the earlier hours, and to hunt their full remission.” He goes on, “I must take all strategies for seeing the vileness of my sins” (Memoir and Stays of Robert Murray M‘Cheyne, 150).
Those that have felt trapped within the jail of introspection could tremble at such phrases; we could hear in them the clink of former chains. We would additionally marvel, Is that this actually the identical man who instructed us to take ten seems to be at Christ — the identical man who stated, “Don’t take up your time a lot with learning your individual coronary heart as with learning Christ’s coronary heart” (279)? Sure, the identical man. He handled the command to “maintain an in depth watch on your self” with utter seriousness (1 Timothy 4:16).
We would think about that such exact self-examination would go away M‘Cheyne feeling like a relentless religious failure. However remarkably, it didn’t. Those that learn his biography discover a man usually exuberant with pleasure, commonly stress-free in God’s love. “Oh, how candy to work all day for God, after which to lie down underneath his smiles!” he wrote in his journal (56). His seems to be at self didn’t steal his sense of God’s steadfast favor.
How? Effectively, for one, M‘Cheyne was conscious not solely of indwelling sin however of indwelling grace; when he seemed inside, he might discover the methods his life happy God. However much more considerably, he grasped that seeing self (even the worst components of himself) was not an finish however a means of seeing Christ extra clearly, of beholding his glories extra intimately and significantly. And so he surrounded his self-examination and confessions of sin with celebrations of Jesus.
Ten Sweeter, Stronger Seems
We’d like not comply with M‘Cheyne’s exact routine of self-examination with the intention to be taught from his Christ-focused sample. Scripture doesn’t inform us how usually we must always confess our sins or how rigorously we must always look at ourselves. We might want to discover our personal approach underneath the steering of the Spirit and in neighborhood with God’s folks.
However nonetheless usually or deeply we think about ourselves, how would possibly our one take a look at self serve our ten seems to be at Christ?
1. Make introspection a street, not a room.
For some Christians, introspection results in paralyzed inaction. Our look inside turns into a locked sight, a set gaze — a room reasonably than a street. M‘Cheyne, for all of his inward depth, speaks of self-examination in dramatically totally different phrases. Sure, he sought to see “the vileness of [his] sins,” and to that finish he examined himself fastidiously (150). However as soon as he noticed himself clearly, he didn’t linger lengthy. He flew to Jesus.
At one level, M‘Cheyne makes use of the picture of the prodigal son among the many pigs. He knew how tempting it might really feel to sit down in his guilt, letting his inward look prolong, not daring “to go straight from the swine-trough to the most effective gown.” However this suggestion, he stated, is a lie “direct from hell.” “I’m positive that there’s neither peace nor security from deeper sin, however in going on to the Lord Jesus Christ. That is God’s approach of peace and holiness” (151). And so he resolved to let no guilt “hinder me from fleeing to Christ” (152). Somewhat, he let his guilt drive him to God.
“Godly introspection is a street, not a room, that ever takes us to the identical wonderful place: Jesus.”
By definition, self-examination and confession require a cautious inward look; they name us to know and really feel the sicknesses of our soul. However they equally name us to not stay there. In confession, we’re like the lady with the stream of blood — realizing our illness, sure, however permitting that data to ship our toes striding and fingers reaching for the Healer (Mark 5:27–29). As M‘Cheyne’s buddy Horatius Bonar wrote, “Complaints towards self, which don’t lead the complainer on to the cross, are most harmful” (Suppose Once more, 107).
Accomplished properly, inward trying leads us to the Lord outdoors ourselves, the Christ price beholding with tenfold consideration. However what precisely can we behold about Christ on the finish of this street? How does our inward look draw out glories we wouldn’t have seen in any other case — or would have seen much less clearly? M‘Cheyne describes this sight of Christ by way of each cleaning and clothes, or washing and sporting.
2. Wash from the infinite fountain.
Contemplate first the cleaning. Once we convey our sins to Jesus, we method an infinite fountain overflowing with the value of Christ’s struggling. “In Christ’s bloodshedding,” M‘Cheyne writes, “there’s an infinite over-payment for all my sins. Though Christ didn’t endure greater than infinite justice demanded, but he couldn’t have suffered in any respect with out laying down an infinite ransom” (151).
M‘Cheyne names a number of the sins he felt tempted to think about “too nice, too aggravated, too presumptuous” for full, free, rapid forgiveness: “as when accomplished on my knees, or in preaching, or by a dying mattress, or throughout harmful sickness” (152). Does God readily forgive such evils upon honest confession? Can we convey not simply small sins however Goliath-sins to him? He does, and we are able to.
Hate your sins, surrender your sins, and resolve to forsake your sins. However don’t worry to look your sins full within the face. Don’t hesitate to name them what they’re. The bigger they appear, the bigger Christ appears when he forgives them. The more serious they seem, the worthier he seems when he covers them. “If we confess our sins” — no matter sins — “[God] is devoted and simply to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).
We will convey no sin Christ can not cleanse. And nonetheless usually we draw from these waters, they continue to be ever full. So, come wash within the infinite fountain.
3. Put on his many-colored gown.
After the cleaning comes the clothes. “I have to not solely wash me in Christ’s blood,” M‘Cheyne writes, “however dress me in Christ’s obedience” (152). And right here we get to the center of how our inward-looking shapes our sight of Christ. M‘Cheyne goes on,
For each sin of omission in myself, I could discover a divinely excellent obedience prepared for me in Christ. For each sin of fee in self, I could discover not solely a stripe or a wound in Christ, but in addition an ideal rendering of the alternative obedience in my place, in order that the regulation is magnified, its curse greater than carried, its demand greater than answered. (152)
The “gown of righteousness” Christ offers is just not generic (Isaiah 61:10). Like Joseph’s many-colored coat, Christ’s gown has each shade of splendor for our each shade of sin. No matter our distress, he has an excellency to outmatch it. Each guilt finds an reverse glory in him.
For instance, recently I’ve discovered myself feeling indignant at interruptions and calls for upon my time. However then one morning in Mark 6, as an unrelenting crowd disrupted Jesus’s desired relaxation, I learn this: “When he went ashore he noticed an ideal crowd, and he had compassion on them” (Mark 6:34). The place I’m affronted and offended, Christ bleeds mercy. I noticed my selfishness in that second, sure, however I additionally noticed a gown woven with Christ’s personal compassion — a gown to put on by religion and to more and more embody by grace.
And so with each single sin. For our barbed phrases he has his personal bridled tongue, and for our apathy his mighty zeal, and for our bitterness his tender grace, and for our impatience his slow-to-anger love. So, whereas sin can present us components of ourselves we really feel dismayed to see, sin also can present us components of Christ we really feel thrilled to behold. For our darkness can not assist however present his mild — his many-splendored, excellent mild, shining from each side of his spotless human life.
His Unsearchable Riches
To be clear, M‘Cheyne’s ten seems to be at Christ didn’t all spring from his self-examination. He spent many hours in easy self-forgetful examine, marveling at “the unsearchable riches of Christ” (Ephesians 3:8). However he additionally knew easy methods to make introspection a method of seeing these riches extra clearly.
By all means, then, take ten seems to be at Christ for each one take a look at self. Focus not a lot on learning your coronary heart as on learning Christ’s coronary heart. But in addition do take that one take a look at your self — and let it inform and form these ten seems to be. And let what you see of your individual coronary heart present you the value and fantastic thing about his.
