Ten Styles with Sweetness and Strength

“For one look at yourself, take ten looks at Christ.”

Robert Murray M‘Cheyne’s words have been a lifeline to Christians caught in the endless spiral of self-scrutiny. His famous advice urges us to look up and out of ourselves away from obsessive introspection and toward the Savior who alone brings peace and hope.

But what if that quote doesn’t mean what many assume it means?

What if M‘Cheyne, for all his Christ-centered counsel, also saw a vital place for soul-searching and even believed that one honest look inward could strengthen and sweeten our ten looks at Christ?

A Road, Not a Room

Some of us know what it’s like to get trapped inside ourselves. Every motive analyzed. Every sin magnified. Every weakness held up to the light. Eventually, our introspection becomes a prison. The way out, we’re told, is to stop looking inward and start looking to Christ and that’s true.

But M‘Cheyne’s own writings suggest a more nuanced approach. He was no stranger to self-examination. In fact, he believed in regularly confessing his sins taking special times of day to reflect, repent, and seek cleansing. “I ought to take all methods for seeing the vileness of my sins,” he wrote.

And yet, this wasn’t morbid. M‘Cheyne’s spiritual life was full of joy. His confessions didn’t keep him from God; they drove him to God.

Why? Because self-examination, in the right hands, is a road, not a room. We don’t linger in the guilt. We don’t wallow in the weakness. We look inward so we can flee outward to the Christ who cleanses, clothes, and welcomes sinners like us.

When Guilt Drives You to God

At one point, M‘Cheyne reflects on the temptation to sit in our shame, to delay coming to Christ until we feel a bit cleaner. He likens it to the prodigal son delaying his return: “not daring to go straight from the swine-trough to the best robe.” But that delay, he says, is “a lie direct from hell.”

Instead, we come as we are. Guilty, tired, ashamed. We confess and then we come running. Self-examination is only healthy when it leads us not into despair, but into the arms of Jesus.

The Puritans used to say that for every one look at your sin, take ten looks at Christ. M‘Cheyne shows us that the one look, rightly handled, actually amplifies the ten.

Wash and Wear

So what does Christ look like after a true, honest look at self? What do we see when we arrive at the end of that road?

1. Christ Cleanses Our Worst

M‘Cheyne writes, “In Christ’s bloodshedding, there is an infinite over-payment for all my sins.” In other words, whatever sin we see in ourselves however long-standing, presumptuous, or recent Jesus has already made provision for it. There is no guilt the blood of Christ cannot cover.

As 1 John 1:9 promises, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Every time. Every sin. Confessed and carried away by grace.

2. Christ Clothes Us in Beauty

But cleansing is not all. M‘Cheyne also reminds us that Christ doesn’t just wash us he clothes us.

“For every sin of omission in myself, I may find a divinely perfect obedience ready for me in Christ,” he writes. That means when we see our laziness, our pride, our short temper, we can also see Jesus’s diligence, humility, and gentleness credited to us.

Our failures reveal what we lack and what he has in abundance. For every impatience, he has patience. For every coldness, warmth. For every selfish act, sacrificial love.

Christ’s obedience isn’t just a general covering it’s a many-colored robe, woven thread by thread with the opposite of our worst. He not only erases our sin; he replaces it with his perfect righteousness.

Let Your Sin Send You

M‘Cheyne’s wisdom is timeless: examine yourself not to paralyze your soul, but to propel it. Let one true look at self become ten clearer, sweeter, stronger looks at Christ. Let every confession become a sprint to the cross. Let your guilt not bury you, but buoy you right into the ocean of grace.

If we never see our sin, we’ll never see how stunning Christ’s mercy really is. But if we look rightly briefly, honestly, then outward we’ll see both more of ourselves and more of Jesus.

So take one look inward but don’t stay there. Let it launch you into ten looks at Christ. And keep looking. He’s always better than you remembered.

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