Only Jesus or Only Me

Only Jesus or Only Me

“Do you see a man wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.” Prov. 26:12.

People tend to imagine that they are better than they really are. Usually they are not where they visualize themselves to be. Instead, they imagine themselves to be in a completely different and wonderful place. Consequently, reality is not a pleasant place for them.

This is not only true of ungodly people. More often than not, Christians live in the same deception. They feel that speaking about God to just one person at a time is much too insignificant. They want to speak to multitudes in a large auditorium. In their imagination, they dream about great revivals and picture themselves as a Billy Sunday preaching in front of thousands of people. Such dreamers never become instruments of God. If those whom God has used were to tell their life story, you would see that they were definitely not daydreamers. Those who are poorest in spirit are the ones God is able to use. They are where they are and scarcely see themselves as being capable of performing even the lowliest of ministries. If you doubt this, read about Moses and Jeremiah. Jude speaks about dreamers who defile the flesh, reject authority and speak evil of dignitaries. Jude 8. They exalt themselves so much in their dreams that they even regard authorities and dignitaries beneath them and only worthy of contempt.

There are multitudes of preachers who have their heads in the clouds. They labor under the delusion that they understand everything between heaven and the deep blue sea. Because of this—either directly or indirectly—they portray themselves in such a divinely brilliant light that after they have finished preaching, it is the preacher you are left with and Christ is nowhere to be found. They cry, “Only Jesus,” but if you look around, you usually find only the preacher.

Religious periodicals are heading in the same direction. I had always thought that Christian magazines were intended to build up, to pull down and to proclaim God’s work and will. But they write about themselves in such a way that what you are left with is “Only me,” even if their mouth says “Only Jesus,” and as a result, all they have to give to their thousands of readers is stories about their many and extensive travels. The editor of a periodical recently wrote that his grandfather had been one of the men at Eidsvold in 1814.* I would have thought that people who claim to have “only Jesus” would have been saved to such an extent that they would no longer rely on genealogies, like the Jewish storytellers. What salvation or edification is there in hearing about the accomplishments of someone’s grandparents? If the grandfather in question had been an ordinary laborer, he would most probably never have been mentioned, even if he were a God-fearing man, about whom much could be written.

This country’s preachers need eye salve so they can see. They are carried away by folly. The splendor of this world impresses them; they want the glory of the grandfather to shine over the grandson. They want the splendor of this world even if they have to search far back into their genealogy to find it. Is this liberty? Isn’t this the same old bondage of the Jews all over again?