Written by Oswald Chambers
06/09/2018
__________________________________________________________________________________
If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them. John 13:17
Be determined to know more than others.
If you yourself do not cut the lines that tie you to the dock, God will
have to use a storm to sever them and to send you out to sea. Put
everything in your life afloat upon God, going out to sea on the great
swelling tide of His purpose, and your eyes will be opened. If you
believe in Jesus, you are not to spend all your time in the calm waters
just inside the harbor, full of joy, but always tied to the dock. You
have to get out past the harbor into the great depths of God, and begin
to know things for yourself— begin to have spiritual discernment.
When
you know that you should do something and you do it, immediately you
know more. Examine where you have become sluggish, where you began
losing interest spiritually, and you will find that it goes back to a
point where you did not do something you knew you should do. You did not
do it because there seemed to be no immediate call to do it. But now
you have no insight or discernment, and at a time of crisis you are
spiritually distracted instead of spiritually self-controlled. It is a
dangerous thing to refuse to continue learning and knowing more.
The
counterfeit of obedience is a state of mind in which you create your
own opportunities to sacrifice yourself, and your zeal and enthusiasm
are mistaken for discernment. It is easier to sacrifice yourself than to
fulfill your spiritual destiny, which is stated in Romans 12:1-2.
It is much better to fulfill the purpose of God in your life by
discerning His will than it is to perform great acts of self-sacrifice.
“Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice…” (1 Samuel 15:22).
Beware of paying attention or going back to what you once were, when
God wants you to be something that you have never been. “If anyone wills
to do His will, he shall know…” (John 7:17). From My Utmost for His Highest Updated Edition
Bible in One Year: 2 Chronicles 30-31; John 18:1-18
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Jesus
Christ is always unyielding to my claim to my right to myself. The one
essential element in all our Lord’s teaching about discipleship is
abandon, no calculation, no trace of self-interest.
from Disciples Indeed
More from My Utmost For His Highest, here
No comments:
Post a Comment