An excerpt from My Utmost For His Highest by Oswald Chambers:
"Bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ." 2 Corinthians 10:5
"This is another aspect of the strenuous nature of sainthood. Paul says, 'I take every project prisoner to make it obey Christ.' (Moffatt.) How much Christian work there is to-day which has never been disciplined, but has simply sprung into being by impulse! In Our Lord's life every project was disciplined to the will of His Father. There was not a movement of an impulse of His own will as distinct from His Father's -- 'The Son can do nothing of Himself.' Then take ourselves -- a vivid religious experience, and every project born of impulse put into action immediately, instead of being imprisoned and disciplined to obey Christ.
"This is a day when practical work is overemphasized, and the saints who are bringing every project into captivity are criticized and told that they are not in earnest for God or for souls. True earnestness is found in obeying God, not in the inclination to serve Him that is born of undisciplined human nature. It is inconceivable, but true nevertheless, that saints are not bringing every project into captivity, but are doing work for God at the instigation of their own human nature which has not been spiritualized by determined discipline."
Hi Tim!
ReplyDeleteI ran across a comment by you on a blog that I follow. Since I appreciated your voice about Jesus' work in your life, I decided to look into your own writings. I definitely like what I see here! God appears to be the driving force in your life...and that is what living is all about.
Thank you for sharing this. With certainty, my thoughts have been provoked to consider exactly home much of my work for the Lord has been done of my own design. I believe, typically, people want to feel as if they are contributing to the labor for God's Kingdom. With certainty, much is sure to be done out of desire rather than direction from the Lord. Today i am mindful to be certain I am presenting my "Christian" activities before the Lord, so as to be certain that I am working with Him and not against Him.
Once again, thank you so much for sharing, brother.
Daniel
Oswald Chambers was a great teacher. He is still teaching us today through his book "My Utmost For His Highest"--probably the best daily devotional ever written.
ReplyDeleteAre we working for the Lord or is the Lord working through us? I see many Christians doing so-called work for the Lord, but I don't perceive any spiritual fruit from the work. Then I will ask them, "Did the Lord tell you to do this?" or "Is the Lord in this work?"
We need to put God first in all of our endeavors.
"Not my will, but Thine be done."
Tim,
ReplyDeleteI totally understand where you are coming from. Today we find ourselves in perilous times...the love of many is growing cold. What makes a man a child of God is most certainly not the book he reads--even if it is the Holy Word of God. In these last days, people will most certainly have a form of godliness, yet, deny His power they will. Centered at the core of the Spirit of Christ within us is the all powerful love of God...something that no religion can contain--contrarily, the heartbeat of our Father will emanate from our being, reaching out to those who are lost...be it the Muslim reading the Qu`ran, or the lost individual within his/her Christian church. These are the last days of the last days, brother. The harvest is abundant...I see you working in His fields. Thank you for sharing your dreams and your thought provoking questions.
In Jesus,
Daniel Paul Jensen
Sorry, I intended to post this comment to your most recent blog entry.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comments, Daniel.
ReplyDelete