Being Discipled by a Dead Man (2)

This is my 2nd post about my insights from Oswald Chambers. I have always been impressed by people who can get me to consider re-framing my whole world with just a sentence or two, or a couple short questions. Oswald Chambers seems to have that ability in his writings. Here is what he has challenged me with most recently.


**He charges, "If we were asked whether we believed God could make us blameless, we would all say 'Yes'." Then, he asks, "Well, has He done it?" His rhetorical response: "If God has not sanctified us and made us blameless, there is only one reason why He has not - we do not want Him to."


**The other thought challenges my entire perspective on what it means to be a disciple. Chambers posits that it is not whether we know Christ is with us as we face our temptations. That is a given. The more important question is, Are we going with Jesus in His temptations?


It's strange. Sometimes, I will not open this devotional book for a few days after reading just a paragraph. The truth is so sharp. It cuts. I am left processing something that is just straight forward. I don't find many people that talk this clearly about the reality of God's Kingdom. And clear talk is usually not easy to hear for me.


Of course, I realize it is Jesus talking this clearly to me. But I still don't like it much better knowing that. In fact, it is all the more reason I am uncomfortable. I know there is nowhere to hide. And yet, I know He loves me relentlessly, passionately, insanely, jealously. I told you it was strange.

Being Discipled by a Dead Man

I am going to do with this post what pastors and Christians are usually so guilty of doing. I am going to share some thoughts that I found very profound in the writings of Oswald Chambers. Rather than allow them to keep penetrating my own heart and renew my mind, I will now carry out that respected and popular practice of using that information to hopefully change other people. These come from Daily Thoughts for Disciples (a compilation of excerpts from some of his works).

(from Jan. 5) "The things that keep us back from God's best are not sin and imperfection, but the things that are right and good and noble from the natural standpoint."

(from Jan. 8) "The sign that the Holy Spirit is in us is that we realize, not that we are full, but that we are empty; there is a sense of absolute need."

(from Jan. 9) "If we say, 'I am going to believe He will put things right,' we shall lose our confidence when we see things go wrong."..."Our Lord's word believe does not refer to an intellectual act, but to a moral act; with our Lord to believe means to commit."

Wow! Lots of hard-hitting things to think about. If I ponder them too long, I end up questioning my own beliefs and level of commitment. So, it is easier to just throw them out there for others to reflect on.