An Accurate View

While I've only read excerpts of the writings of John Calvin, I ran across a quote credited to him recently that speaks to me.

"Man never achieves a clear knowledge of himself unless he has first looked upon God's face, and then descends from contemplating Him to scrutinize himself."

I have been reading D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones Studies in the Sermon on the Mount recently and was reminded of part of his teaching on what it means to be "poor in spirit." His comments seemed closely related to the quote mentioned above.

"That, then, is what is meant by being 'poor in spirit'. It means a complete absence of pride, a complete absence of self-assurance and of self-reliance. It means a consciousness that we are nothing in the presence of God. It is nothing, then that we can produce; it is nothing that we can do in ourselves. It is just this tremendous awareness of our utter nothingness as we come face to face with God....The way to become poor in spirit is to look at God....He is the all-sufficient One."

Why does it matter so much that I be 'poor in spirit'? I am then in a position to comprehend more fully what Christ accomplished for me on the Cross and through the Resurrection and to see in Him a Savior sufficient to transform lives. Such love constrains me to serve him more faithfully.