3/29 Our Lord's Surprise Visits

Our Lord's Surprise Visits

March 29

"Be ye therefore ready also."

Luke 12:40

The great need for the Christian worker is to be ready to face Jesus Christ at any and every turn. This is not easy, no matter what our experience is. The battle is not against sin or difficulties or circumstances, but against being so absorbed in work that we are not ready to face Jesus Christ at every turn. That is the one great need, not the facing of our belief, or our creed, or the question whether we are of any use, but to face Him. 

Jesus rarely comes where we expect Him; He appears where we least expect Him, and always in the most illogical connections. The only way a worker can keep true to God is by being ready for the Lord's surprise visits. It is not service that matters, but intense spiritual reality, expecting Jesus at every turn. This will give our life the attitude of child-wonder which He wants it to have. If we are going to be ready for Jesus Christ, we have to stop being religious (that is, using religion as a higher kind of culture) and be spiritually real. 

If you are "looking off unto Jesus," avoiding the call of the religious age you live in, and setting your heart on what He wants, thinking on His line-- you will be called unpractical and dreamy; but when He appears in the burden and heat of the day, you will be the only one who is ready. Trust no one, not even the finest saint who ever walked this earth, ignore him, if he hinders your sight of Jesus Christ. 

"My Utmost for His Highest"

by

Oswald Chambers

3/28 Isn't There Some Misunderstanding?

Isn't There Some Misunderstanding?

March 28

"Let us go into Judea...His disciples say to Him...Goest thou thither again?"
John 11:7-8

I may not understand what Jesus Christ says, but it's dangerous to say that therefore He was mistaken in what He said. It is never right to think that my obedience to a word of God will bring dishonour to Jesus. The only thing that will bring dishonour is not obeying Him. To put my view of His honour in place of what He is plainly impelling me to do is never right, although it may arise from a real desire to prevent Him being put to open shame. I know when the proposition comes from God because of its quiet persistence: When I have to weigh the pros and cons, and doubt and debate come in, I am bringing in an element that is not of God, and I come to the conclusion that the suggestion was not a right one. Many of us are loyal to our notions of Jesus Christ, but how many of us are loyal to Him? Loyalty to Jesus means I have to step out where I do not see anything (cf. Matt. 14:29); loyalty to my notions means that I clear the ground first of my intelligence. Faith is not intelligent understanding, faith is deliberate commitment to a Person where I see no way. 

Are you debating whether to take a step in faith in Jesus or to wait until you can see how to do the thing yourself? Obey Him with glad reckless joy. When He says something and you begin to debate, it is because you have a conception of His honour which is not His honour. Are you loyal to Jesus or loyal to your notion of Him? Are you loyal to what He says, or are you trying to compromise with conceptions which never came from Him? "Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it."

"My Utmost for His Highest"
by 
Oswald Chambers

3/25 The Most Delicate Mission on Earth

The Most Delicate Mission on Earth

March 25

"The friend of the Bridegroom"
John 3:29

Goodness and purity ought never to attract attention to themselves, they ought simply to be magnets to draw to Jesus Christ. If my holiness is not drawing towards Him, it is not holiness of the right order, but an influence that will awaken inordinate affection and lead souls away into side eddies. A beautiful saint may be a hindrance if he does not present Jesus Christ but only what Christ has done for him. He will leave the impression-- "What a fine character that man is!" That is not being a true friend of the Bridegroom; I am increasing all the time, He is not.

In order to maintain this friendship and loyalty to the Bridegroom, we have to be more careful of our moral and vital relationship to Him than of any other thing, even of obedience. Sometimes there is nothing to obey, the only thing to do is to maintain a vital connection with Jesus Christ, to see that nothing interferes with that. Only occasionally do we have to obey. When a crisis arises we have to find out what God's will is, but the greater part of the life is not conscious obedience but the maintenance of this relationship-- the friend of the Bridegroom. Christian work may be a means of evading the soul's concentration on Jesus Christ. Instead of being friends of the Bridegroom, we may become amateur providences, and may work against Him whilst we use His weapons.

Oswald Chambers
"My Utmost For His Highest"

3/27 Vision by Personal Character

Vision by Personal Character

March 27

"Come up hither, and I will shew thee things."
Revelation 4:1

An elevated mood can only come out of an elevated habit of personal character. If in the externals of your life you live up to the highest you know, God will continually say-- "Friend, go up higher." The golden rule in temptation is-- Go higher. When you get higher up, you face other temptations and characteristics. Satan uses the strategy of elevation in temptation, and God does the same, but the effect is different. When the devil puts you into an elevated place, he makes you screw your idea of holiness beyond what flesh and blood could ever bear, it is a spiritual acrobatic performance, you are just poised and dare not move; but when God elevates you by His grace into the heavenly places, instead of finding a pinnacle to cling to, you find a greater tableland where it is easy to move.

Compare this week in your spiritual history with the same week last year and see how God has called you up higher. We have all been brought to see from a higher standpoint. Never let God give you one point of truth which you do not instantly live up to. Always work it out, keep in the light of it.

Growth in grace is measured not by the fact that you have not gone back, but that you have an insight of your character.

"Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do?" God has to hide from us what He does until by personal character we get to the place where He can reveal it.

"My Utmost for His Highest"
by
Oswald Chambers

3/26 Vision by Personal Purity

Vision by Personal Purity

March 26

"Blessed are the pure in heart; for they shall see God."
Matthew 5:8

Purity is not innocence, it is much more. Purity is the outcome of sustained spiritual sympathy with God. We have to grow in purity. The life with God may be right and the inner purity still remain unsullied, and yet every now and again the bloom on the outside may be sullied. God does not shield us from this possibility, because in this way we realize the necessity of maintaing the vision by personal purity. If the spiritual bloom of our life with God is getting impaired in the tiniest degree, we must leave off everything and get it put right. Remember that vision depends on character-- the pure in heart see God.

God makes us pure by His sovereign grace, but we have something to look after, this bodily life by which we come in contact with other people and with other points of view, it is these that are apt to sully. Not only must the inner sanctuary be kept right with God, but the outer courts as well are to be brought into perfect accord with the purity God gives us by His grace. The spiritual understanding is blurred immediately the outer court is sullied. If we are going to retain personal contact with the Lord Jesus Christ, it will mean there are some things we must scorn to do or to think, some legitimate things we must scorn to touch.

A practical way of keeping personal purity unsullied in relation to other people is to say to yourself-- That man, that woman, perfect in Christ Jesus! That friend, that relative, perfect in Christ Jesus!

Oswald Chambers
"My Utmost For His Highest"

March 24: Decreasing Into His Purpose

March 24
Decreasing Into His Purpose

“He must increase, but I must decrease.”

John 3.30

If you become a necessity to a soul, you are out of God’s order. As a worker, your great responsibility is to be a friend of the Bridegroom. When once you see a soul in sight of the claims of Jesus Christ, you know that your influence has been in the right direction, and instead of putting out a hand to prevent the throes, pray that they grow ten times stronger until there is no power on earth or in hell that can hold that soul away from Jesus Christ. Over and over again we become amateur provinces, we come in and prevent God; and say-- “This and that must not be.” Instead of proving friends of the Bridegroom, we put our sympathy in the way, and the soul will one day say -- “That one was a thief, he stole my affections from Jesus, and I lost my vision of Him.”

Beware of rejoicing with a soul in the wrong thing, but see that you do rejoice in the right thing. “The friend of the Bridegroom...rejoiceth greatly because of the Bridegroom’s voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease.” This is spoken with joy and not with sadness-- at last they are to see the Bridegroom! And John says this is his joy. It is the absolute effacement of the worker, he is never thought of again.

Watch for all you are worth until you hear the Bridegroom’s voice in the life of another. Never mind what havoc it brings, what upsets, what crumblings of health, rejoice with divine hilarity when once His voice is heard. You may often see Jesus Christ wreck a life before He saves it. (cf. Matt. 10.34)

“My Utmost for His Highest”

Oswald Chambers

night fell

i started to read "the last temptation of christ" not too long ago. going into it, i was concerned, knowing the account that lay before me was fictional, but its power to alter my mind and perception of the God i serve would be just as real as other thoughts.

kazantzakis is a masterful writer. his knowledge of scripture dwarfs my own. his tactful placement of words and phrases that are familiar to me through the bible remind me how much i don't read the bible. this assignment for my class is turning into something much more. the teacher knew this would happen. it will definitely push me to read more of my bible, and this book so the attempt at piecing together the two and all the intentional parallels can have some sort of coherence.

even though i'm behind in my reading, my eyes are alighted to a completely different understanding of my savior. true enough, the jesus christ i know is not the jesus, "the son of mary, son of the carpenter" mentioned in this novel. then again, he's not who i've made him out to be either.

understanding this and knowing this are two very different things. i have neither. i am simply aware of its existence. much like the parallels that are drawn in the novel to the Scripture, i am only aware, but knowing why--not even close. which leads me to the great struggle.

struggle is the cornerstone of man. his self-consciousness is hidden from all. there is no manual on how to be you. nobody else ever has, or ever will be. that's the frustrating part. so we try to fit in, be like others--at least that way we have something to see, hear, act like. it fails. all we see of others is just a moment, a snapshot. we need a purpose, a why behind the what that we do. and since the purpose of our lives is so vastly different--one from another--and since it can't be obvious from the outside, we are lost.

[insert the obvious part about how God is great and magnificent for coming down and giving us an example, and how perfect it was (despite the fact that we are millennia removed from the context of our great example and savior and have no way, no guide to the struggle inwardly, only a directive on how we should be motivated and how frustrating that is)]