God in His holiness, His majesty, His righteousness and His love has found His rest in the work and Person of Christ; I, too, have found mine there. A mystic never has rest, because he vainly seeks in man what he ought to seek in God, who had accomplished all before he ever thought about it. Here sin is in man; in heaven he will think only of God. This is why the imagination plays so great a part in mysticism, and Satan can so often deceive by it, because the imagination and the heart of man are called into play. I do not say that spiritual affections are never there — far from it; nor that God never reveals Himself to such affections. I doubt not that He does it and thus renders the person happy, but you will find him, after all, occupied with the affections and not with God Himself. It is the chief defect of mysticism. In a word, I see it as an effort of the human heart, trying to produce in itself something strong enough in the way of affection to satisfy a heart awakened by the excellence of its Object. (J. N. Darby, adapted.)
We who are saved cannot change ourselves. God by the Spirit changes us when we are occupied with the Christ, the perfect Object, who satisfies our divine natures. “Never try to love the Lord more than you do; just be occupied with His love for you.”
Theme of the Issue