Do you know the blessedness of that word nothing?

I have been reading Andrew Murray who wrote at the end of the 19^th beginning of the 20^th centuries. His writing is profound and uncompromising. This is a section from a piece called, Ye are the branches: An address for Christian workers.

“Do you know the blessedness of that word nothing? If I am something, then God is not everything; but when I become nothing, God can become all, and the everlasting God in Christ can reveal himself fully. This is the higher life. We need to become nothing ... Workers, here is your first lesson: learn to be nothing, learn to be helpless ... Absolute dependence upon God is the secret of all power in work. The branch has nothing but what it gets from the vine, and you and I can have nothing but what we get from Jesus.”

As a younger Christian I wouldn’t/couldn't have got this fully. I would have wriggled and squirmed seeing this as far too demeaning and weak. I am now, after thirty years or so, beginning to see the full liberation of this message, as instead of depending on my own silly and timid ‘strength’, I can turn my gaze away from myself and onto the awesome power of Christ and God, who then can dwell within me (Luke 17:21).

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