There is one day's entry in Oswald Chambers' book My Utmost for His Highest that has been especially meaningful to me that I would like to share with you.
June 21st
THE MINISTRY OF THE INTERIOR
But ye are... a royal priesthood." 1 Peter 2:9
By what right do we become "a royal priesthood"? By the right of the Atonement. Are we prepared to leave ourselves resolutely alone and to launch out into the priestly work of prayer? The continual grubbing on the inside to see whether we are what we ought to be generates a self-centred, morbid type of Christianity, not the robust, simple life of the child of God. Until we get into a right relationship to God, it is a case for hanging on by the skin of our teeth, and we say, "What a wonderful victory I have got!" There is nothing indicative of the miracle of Redemption in that. Launch out in reckless belief that the Redemption is complete, and then bother no more about yourself, but begin to do as Jesus Christ said—pray for the friend who comes to you at midnight, pray for the saints, pray for all men. Pray on the realization that you are only perfect in Christ Jesus, not on his plea—"O Lord, I have done my best, please hear me."
How long is it going to take God to free us from the morbid habit of thinking about ourselves? We must get sick unto death of ourselves, until there is no longer any surprise at anything God can tell us about ourselves. We cannot touch the depths of meanness in ourselves. There is only one place where we are right, and that is in Christ Jesus. When we are there, then we have to pour out for all we are worth in this ministry of the interior.
6 comments:
I am always amazed at the depth of insight Oswald Chambers had. Many wondered at his early death, (I think before 40) but through it God gave his wife Biddy the vision and means to publish many of his writings. God's ways are amazing.
That post reminded me of a sermon just preached this last Sunday. The thing that stuck out to me the most was being God-conscious vs. self-conscious. He truly has done it all and our efforts to add to it end in utter failure!
Thanks for sharing! I was blessed!
Great post! I really liked the part on prayer, it seems like lately the Lord has been showing me the power of prayer in a very real way! He really is listening to our every need!
BTW, Happy Birthday! I just noticed that you changed the age on your profile, so I don't know when you birthday was, but Happy Birthday anyway!=)
Thanks for sharing this, Ryan. How true...we get so stuck in ourselves that we start to lose sight of where our focus ought to be, and that is on God, as Oswald Chambers so points out here. The self-centered battle is one we must always be fighting!
Very good! I love the idea of just "launching" into the belief that our Redemption is a complete and finished work. How edifying and uplifting those words are. They excite the soul!
Thanks, Ryan, for sharing...
that was "me" (Chelsea), by the way. :o)
Thanks for the comments everyone!
Becc@, thanks for the birthday greetings. My birthday was at the end of August. I just don't have it in my blogger profile so it doesn't show all the zodiac nonsense!
Yes, prayer is so essential—for ourselves, for others! And it's wonderful that we can, as Chelsea said, launch into the belief that Redemption is complete and begin doing the good works God has called us to, without having to clean up our lives first by the "continual grubbing on the inside." The clean-up of our selfs will be done by Christ as we pursue Him!
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