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Others May, You Cannot
- 10/17/10
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I came across this bit of writing on Facebook today and quite enjoyed it. It stands as a good challenge at any age, but perhaps particularly in an age of Christian celebrity. It was written by George D. Watson, a Wesleyan minister who did the bulk of his ministry in the early 20th century.
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If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. Matthew 16:24-25
If God has called you to be truly like Jesus in all your spirit, He will draw you into a life of crucifixion and humility. He will put on you such demands of obedience that you will not be allowed to follow other Christians. In many ways, He seems to let other good people do things which He will not let you do.
Others who seem to be very religious and useful may push themselves, pull wires, and scheme to carry out their plans, but you cannot. If you attempt it, you will meet with such failure and rebuke from the Lord as to make you sorely penitent.
Others can brag about themselves, their work, their successes, their writings, but the Holy Spirit will not allow you to do any such thing. If you begin to do so, He will lead you into some deep mortification that will make you despise yourself and all your good works.
Others will be allowed to succeed in making great sums of money, or having a legacy left to them, or in having luxuries, but God may supply you only on a day-to-day basis, because He wants you to have something far better than gold, a helpless dependence on Him and His unseen treasury.
The Lord may let others be honored and put forward while keeping you hidden in obscurity because He wants to produce some choice, fragrant fruit for His coming glory, which can only be produced in the shade.
God may let others be great, but keep you small. He will let others do a work for Him and get the credit, but He will make you work and toil without knowing how much you are doing. Then, to make your work still more precious, He will let others get the credit for the work which you have done; this to teach you the message of the Cross, humility, and something of the value of being cloaked with His nature.
The Holy Spirit will put a strict watch on you, and with a jealous love rebuke you for careless words and feelings, or for wasting your time, which other Christians never seem distressed over.
So make up your mind that God is an infinite Sovereign and has a right to do as He pleases with His own, and that He may not explain to you a thousand things which may puzzle your reason in His dealings with you.
God will take you at your word. If you absolutely sell yourself to be His slave, He will wrap you up in a jealous love and let other people say and do many things that you cannot. Settle it forever; you are to deal directly with the Holy Spirit, He is to have the privilege of tying your tongue or chaining your hand or closing your eyes in ways which others are not dealt with. However, know this great secret of the Kingdom: When you are so completely possessed with the Living God that you are, in your secret heart, pleased and delighted over this peculiar, personal, private, jealous guardianship and management of the Holy Spirit over your life, you will have found the vestibule of heaven, the high calling of God.
I am a follower of Jesus Christ, a husband to Aileen and a father to three young children. I worship and serve as a pastor at 
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Comments (19)
Just testing comments. Ignore me. :)
That is powerful. Thank you for posting. This has touched me.
I can’t tell you how delighted I am to see this again. My grandmother kept multiple copies of this in tract form to give out to others, and she gave me my copy when I was just in my early teens (back in the late 70’s).
It has been years since I have been able to remember the particulars, but the titular phrase has sometimes popped into my thoughts to remind me and guide me. I’m happy to have the full text again.
I’ve run across the phrase “living for an audience of one” in books, most memorably in Randy Alcorn’s works. This is along those same lines.
This is a hard thing to do. You have to really purpose in your heart to live this way, but it results in more of a real freedom than living through the eyes of others (including your own clouded vision of yourself)…..
I can’t help but think of Jeremiah as I read these words. What if God has called us to a similar ministry as that of Jeremiah? What would our response be? Would we be faithful to our calling? Lord help us to be faithful and obedient to whatever you have called us to.Dale, often the clouded vision of myself is because I’ve created a treacherous thunderstorm of pride. Not only can I not see myself as who I am, but can’t hear the Lord through the thunder!
I first came across this in a bio of Hudson Taylor’s. They found a very worn copy of it in his waistpocket or in his Bible (I forget which) after his death. Thanks for posting this. I needed to read it again. (Our books and papers are in a container in Seattle. Lord willing, soon they will be dispatched to us here in Uganda!)
Depressing… To be a total abject failure here on earth, in anticipation of something much greater. Who of us can achieve such humility?
Re. Matthew 16:24-25, is it a call to all believers, or a particular subset?
Nobody can achieve such humility in and of themselves. But we can do all things through Christ Jesus who strengthens us. (Phil. 4:13)
It is only depressing if you look at it from an autonomous perspective.
Thank you for sharing this, Tim. It’s a humbling, challenging, and encouraging reminder.
Even though it doesn’t always look like it, I’d rather be led by Jesus than anyone (including myself).
Hey Tim, enjoyed your post and thought that I would mention as a former church planter in South America for almost 20 yrs and raising a family of three I used this with each of my three children when they hit the age of 9 for the first time. Honestly, what stuck for them through their teen years and young adulthood when temptation came was “others may, you cannot.” As an encouragement to young parents, sit and share the cross with your children early and God will honor your investment many times over, including in your grandchildren. peace, mark
Wow, I really needed to read this today! Thank you!
I needed this today, thanks for posting!
I’m with some of the respondents above… what is the context?
What on earth does this mean: “If God has called you to be truly like Jesus in all your spirit, He will draw you into a life of crucifixion and humility. He will put on you such demands of obedience that you will not be allowed to follow other Christians. In many ways, He seems to let other good people do things which He will not let you do.”
Higher spirituallity?? Not like other Christians? Please - why can’t we accept that grace has come and why do we see writers nearly act like Roman pontificates as to humility and service. Why I might even join a nunnery…
Others ‘Do, but you may not’ may have been better headed - ‘Others do - but should not’….
Tim, thank you for this post. This is just what I have been experiencing from God and needed the encouragement. A person will never understand this if he/she has not experienced this from God. And very few Christians have experienced this. Every paragraph in this spoke to me.
God provides opportunities for other Christians to pursue; they can take that opportunity and be blessed, or turn it down and not get the blessing. This article talks to us who are not allowed to refuse. There are some of us that God will not take “NO” as an answer. Ever. (Think: Jonah)
”,,,God is an infinite Sovereign and has a right to do as He pleases with His own, and that He may not explain to you a thousand things which may puzzle your reason in His dealings with you.” If God chooses to use me in this manner, I accept-not that I have a choice. I have to understand that God is so Holy, whatever He does is always for my best.
Are you sure Tozer didn’t write this? I’m sure I saw it in one of his books.
I needed this today. Thank you for posting it.
I’d never seen this until a few years ago when it was published (I think) in Acts & Facts, the journal of the Institute for Creation Research. Dr Henry Morris, the founder of ICR, had a copy of it in his Bible at the time of his death. It is powerful, and I’ve never forgotten it.