Open my eyes to true servant leadership

Jeff Klick March 19, 2019

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Like millions of other readers, I like spending time in Charles Spurgeon’s sermons. The abilities this “Prince of Preachers” displayed are a tribute to God’s incredible heart for His people. God gave gifts to His Bride and the insights offered through Spurgeon are a treasure. 

“The New Fashion” was a message I enjoyed this week. Spurgeon focused on how people responded to a miracle. He spun sentences in a manner that makes me marvel. 

Consider some of these gems —these three sentences are deep and wide in thought. 

• “To believe that we know before we do know is to prevent our really making discoveries and coming to right knowledge.”

• “It is easy to show a man a thing if he will open his eyes, but if he shuts his eyes, and resolves not to see, the task is difficult.” 

• “You judge only from what you know, and what you are capable of, while God is infinitely above all that you know and can conceive.” 

How many of us are blinded by our pride and self-knowledge and therefore miss “right knowledge?”

How many of us shut our eyes and refuse to see the truth? I know I have. I don’t want something to be true, so I refuse to see it. If I resolve not to see, then seeing will be difficult if not impossible. 

We all tend to think we are the plumb line. Our view is correct and if you don’t line up then you must be wrong. If I can’t understand it, explain it or justify it, then it can’t be done! Pride, pride, pride. Do we judge from what we can see? Of course. Is God bigger and beyond our ability? Yes!

While the first three quotes I have shared are somewhat negative, the next one causes me to worship:

• “Know thou O man, that God is no streamlet, or lakelet, which thou canst measure, and whose capacity thou canst calculate; He is a sea without a bottom and without a shore, and all thy thoughts are drowned when thou dost attempt to measure Him.” 

God is so far beyond my ability to understand. Whatever my mind can dream up, God is greater. However much love I think He has and has given, it is not even close to reality. His grace, mercy, patience and love are beyond measure, and I love and worship Him for that truth. 

His wisdom, plans, will and sovereignty are beyond any image even Spurgeon could dream up. An ocean without a bottom and without a shore is an excellent picture, but even that falls short of how great our God is. 

The amazing thing is that this God loves us. The One who is so far beyond anything we can even think or imagine knows us and loves us. He is for us. In fact, if you know Him, you are His dearly loved child. As His child, you are an heir and there are promises that await their fulfillment that we can’t even begin to dream of. 

I want to open my eyes and shut down my pride so I can truly know what the infinite God wants to reveal. I want to lay my judgment down so the God beyond anything can have His way in my life. I want to stop trying to measure God by my limited knowledge and learn to abide in the immeasurable One.

Photo source: istock 

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Dr. Jeff Klick serves as the senior pastor of Hope Family Fellowship, an age-integrated church he planted in 1993. In addition, he is an instructor with The Institute of Church Management and is on the board of The Council for Gospel Legacy Churches. Learn More »

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