Freedom — to know I am not my own, to grow more dependent on the Holy Spirit for all things.
He will have all of you — and in my heart I say, "Have all of me, gladly."
"I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." — Galatians 2:20 🙏
✦ The To-the-Point Spurgeon Again
The road has turned inland, to Neufchâtel-en-Bray in the green Pays de Bray. And Spurgeon does not ease in. Christ never went halves with anyone.
Three readings: a claim on the whole person, a greenhouse for growing, and a Savior who knew no sin. The first tells us whose we are. The second tells us how we grow. The third shows us the One who owns us — pure, and worth giving everything to. 🙏
"If you are a child of God, you belong wholly and entirely to Christ. Yet are there not many who seem to imagine that if they save a corner in their souls for their religion, all will be well?"
"Do not be deceived in this. Christ never went halves with anyone. He will have all of you, or He will have none of you. He will be the supreme Lord, the absolute Master, the undisputed Monarch... In His people, whom He has purchased for His own, He will reign without a rival. Christ will not be part-owner of anyone."
"No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other."
✦ No Corner Religion
Spurgeon names a quiet danger: a little room kept for God, while the rest of the house is run by someone else. A corner of Sunday. A corner of prayer. And the wide fields of the mind left open for the enemy to march across.
October 1 — God did not repair the old house. He demolished it and built a new one. And a new house is not shared with the old owner. The One who bought it with His blood holds every key — every thought, wish, ability, talent, and possession.
That is not a burden. It is freedom. A house with one Master is a house at peace. Yesterday: live near the cross, and your peace will be continual. Today: let the cross own every room. 🙏
"I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."
✦ "Have All of Me, Gladly"
Spurgeon says it as a demand: He will have all of you, or none of you. Le hears the same words and answers as a bride: "Have all of me, gladly." The claim that sounds hard to a divided heart sounds like a love-song to a heart already His.
And Le calls it freedom — the freedom of not being my own. No longer carrying my own life, guarding my own corner, managing my own house. The one who belongs wholly to Christ has nothing left to defend. She can lean, depend, rest — on the Holy Spirit for all things.
Paul's verse is the key that opens Spurgeon's: I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. Christ does not share the house because He lives in it. And the motive is the last line: who loved me and gave himself for me. He gave all of Himself — so all of me is the only fitting answer. October 4, Spurgeon said it: the glad obedience of a joyous heart. Gladly — that is the word. 🙏
"Be much in prayer. God's plants grow faster in the warm atmosphere of the prayer room — it is a greenhouse for spiritual growth. Whoever would grow strong must often kneel at the throne of grace. Of all training for spiritual battles, knee practice is the most healthy and strengthening."
"Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving."
✦ The Greenhouse
October 5 — Le wrote: I thought I had enough grace, but I was wrong. God declares that I have to grow some more. Today Spurgeon shows where the growing happens: the greenhouse of prayer. Warm air. Steady light. Plants that would struggle outside grow fast inside.
And October 6 — watch and pray, be sober and alert. Spurgeon calls it knee practice. The soldier is trained on his knees before he ever stands in the battle. 🙏
"He 'knew no sin' (2 Corinthians 5:21). It does not merely say He did none, but He knew none. Sin was no acquaintance of His. He was acquainted with grief, but no acquaintance of sin. He had to walk through its most crowded haunts, but He did not know it..."
"He was a perfect stranger in the presence of sin — a foreigner, not a citizen of that land where sin is accepted. He passed through the wilderness of suffering, but into the wilderness of sin He could never go.... Mingled with the redness of His blood — that Rose of Sharon — behold the purity of His nature — the Lily of the Valley — 'He knew no sin.'"
"For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him."
✦ A Stranger to Sin
Spurgeon finds treasure in one word. Not did no sin — knew no sin. Acquainted with grief, but a stranger to sin. He walked through its crowded streets as a foreigner, never once giving it a nod of recognition.
And this spotless One is the Owner from the first reading. The One who asks for all of us is the only One worthy of all of us. We give the whole house not to a tyrant but to the Lily of the Valley, the Rose of Sharon — red with the blood that bought us, white with a purity that never knew sin.
Paul's great exchange: He who knew no sin was made sin for us — that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. He took our corner and gave us His whole righteousness. 🙏
"He will have all of you — and in my heart I say, 'Have all of me, gladly.'"
Le · Neufchâtel-en-Bray · Normandy · The freedom of not being my ownHave All of Me, Gladly
No corner religion — Christ will not be part-owner. And the heart that is His answers gladly: the freedom of not being my own.
The Greenhouse
God's plants grow faster in the warm air of the prayer room. Knee practice is the best training for battle.
Rose and Lily
He knew no sin — acquainted with grief, a stranger to sin. Red with the blood that bought us, white with perfect purity.
Ownership, growth, worthiness: Spurgeon's three readings fit together. Whose am I? All His. How do I grow? On my knees. Why give Him everything? Because He knew no sin and gave Himself for me.
Le's answer: Spurgeon's sternest line — all of you, or none — met with a glad yes. That is the difference between law and love. Law demands everything and gets resistance. Love asks for everything and gets gladly. Galatians 2:20 explains why: Christ already lives in the house. And He who loved me and gave Himself for me is easy to give everything to.
Freedom in dependence: Le calls it freedom to grow more dependent on the Spirit. The world thinks freedom is independence. The Christian knows freedom is belonging.
The week's thread: The demolished house (Oct 1), the obedience of love (Oct 2), the sentinel "if" (Oct 6), the grieved Spirit (Oct 7) — and now the whole house given over. A heart with one Master.
Inland now: From the sea to the green hills of the Pays de Bray. A new place, the same claim: ye are not your own. And what a mercy that is. 🙏