By Hugh Binning
Love…doesn’t seek its own way,…—1st Corinthians 13:5
Self denial and true love are inseparable. Self love makes a monopoly of things for its own interest, and this is most opposite to Christian affection and communion, which puts all in one bank. If every one of the members should seek its own things, and not the good of the whole body, what a miserable malady this would cause in the body? We are called into one body in Christ, and therefore we shouldn’t look only to our own things, but all be looking also to the welfare of others, —Philippians 2:4. There is a common interest of saints, mutual edification in faith and love, which charity will prefer to its own private interest. Being addicted to our own thinking and understanding, and too much self-confident pride and self pleasing is the grand enemy of that place to which we are called into one body. Since one Spirit teaches and gives life to all the members, what a monstrosity is it for one member to seek its own things, and look to its own private interest only, as if it were a distinct body!
Excerpt from The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning, Kindle edition, Loc. 16482 [Language modernized in some places by this site.]
Mercy Triumphs! 