This is a weekly series with things I’m reading and pondering from Oswald Chambers. You can read the original seed thought here, or type “Thursdays With Oswald” in the search box to read more entries.
Time To Get Active
We must take heed that in the present calamities, when war and devastation and heart-break are abroad in the world, we do not shut ourselves up in a world of our own and ignore the demand made on us by our Lord and our fellow-man for the service of intercessory prayer and hospitality and care.
From Christian Disciplines
Instead when times are tough, Christians ought to be at their best! Open your eyes and you will see opportunities all around you to pray, to open your home, and to open your arms.
Jesus said, “Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:16).
A week ago I blogged about why some people avoid reading some of the Old Testament books because they seem tedious, or even out-of-date. But if you look at the Old Testament through the light of Jesus, you will find a rich beauty in its pages.
In Leviticus 11 God lists all kinds of food that is considered clean or unclean, and the proper ways to prepare and eat certain foods so as to not become unclean.
I believe one of the reasons God gave the commands for clean and unclean food was to cause His people to pause. Instead of just gobbling up what was in front of them, without any thought as to what it was, they would have to slow down to distinguish. God even said, “You must distinguish” (Leviticus 11:47).
Slowing down gives time for thankfulness too. How many times do I grab whatever is close by when I’m hungry? I shove anything in my mouth just to satisfy an immediate hunger, but there is no distinguishing, no thought, and no gratitude.
If I were to pause long enough to distinguish, how much healthier and grateful might I be?
It’s possible to be so busy doing good things that we forget why we are doing those good things. Worse than that: our busyness can actually kill what’s most important.
When Jesus addressed the church at Ephesus (Revelation 2:1-7), He addressed a problem we in the West face today as well. Jesus said, “You are hard workers. You keep pressing on despite the obstacles. You are ministering to others, you’re making sure no wolves in sheep’s clothing infiltrate the church, and you even stand strong under persecution for your faith.”
But then Jesus drops a hard word on them: “Yet I have this against you: You have forsaken your first love.”
The Ephesians were fighting the good fight. Yet this intense work and ministry detracted from what is most important: Love for God. The New Living Translation says verse four this way: You don’t love Me or each other as you did at first.
Busyness can kill love.
Fighting evil can kill love.
Standing for truth can kill love.
Ministering to others can kill love.
Ministering to others is not love. It can only come from the overflow of love. But if the love is not kept full, there’s nothing there to overflow, and we’re only “doing our duty.”
So Jesus challenges the Ephesians (and us) with these two steps: Remember and Repent.
The verb tense for remember is the present tense. That means it’s something we need to do now. I cannot tell my wife “I love you” nine times on Monday morning and expect that I’m covered for the next 10 days. In the same way, we cannot tell Jesus we love Him on Sunday morning, and then go off to do our own thing for the rest of the week. That choice will not allow us to overflow with love; in fact, it will be just the opposite: we’ll be running on empty, just doing our duty.
We must keep our love up-to-date. Remember often how much God loves you, and express your love to Him. And if you find something in your life that is more of a focus that Christ, repent. Turn from that and turn back to your first love.
Sometimes people get bogged down in some of the Old Testament books because it seems so tedious. And, honestly, some of it can seem irrelevant to today’s Christian. B.B. Warfield described the Old Testament as a richly furnished but dimly lit house. Only when the lights are turned on can we appreciate the beauty that was there all along. In Jesus Christ the light is on, and we can see the beauty of the Old Testament!
In the first seven chapters of Leviticus the sacrifices are described in detail. There are some repeating phrases that we should note: without defect … without yeast … of the proper value. The sacrifices were to be of the best quality, without any “strings attached,” and well thought-out.
Sacrifices were not only physically given, but given emotionally and mentally too. They shouldn’t be given begrudgingly as a “have to” sacrifice, but joyfully as a “get to” sacrifice.
The Archeological Study Bible has an interesting commentary on the sacrifices: “The sacrificial system was not magical. Its efficacy depended not upon the offering of a particular animal… but on God Himself, Who ordained these sacrifices. Fully as important, without an attitude of repentance, perfunctory observation of sacrificial rituals was meaningless.”
Jesus was the once-for-all sacrifice. And if you have accepted Him as your Lord and Savior, the Bible says Christ is now in you and you are new creation. You are blameless in God’s sight!
So today the best sacrifice you can give God is: YOU. When you joyfully give God your life and talents as a living sacrifice with a grateful attitude, God sees Christ’s sacrifice in you as perfect—no defect, no hypocrisy, a sacrifice of inestimable value!
If Jesus Christ is in you, you are a perfect sacrifice, so don’t hesitate to give yourself to God.
Seven times in just two chapters of the book of Revelation, Jesus says, “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” That same Spirit is still speaking to the churches today.
As you may know, the number seven in the Bible stands for completion. Although there were many more churches in Asia minor, Jesus delivered a message to seven of them. In other words, He delivered a complete, well-rounded message to all churches by speaking to those seven. Those messages are still speaking to us today.
This Sunday I’m beginning a new series of messages called The 7-Star Church—Becoming The Church That Pleases Christ from this text in Revelation. It’s going to be a challenging word, but an encouraging word at the same time.
If you are near Cedar Springs, please join me at Calvary Assembly of God on Sunday morning at 10:30am. Come with an ear to hear what the Spirit is still saying to us today.
Compassion means to not only feel what someone else is feeling, but then to make a move toward that person to help. In the life of Jesus you will often see the phrase “He was moved with compassion” and then Jesus taught or healed or acted to alleviate someone’s discomfort.
Pastors, we need to teach our congregations to be people of compassion: to feel the needs of those around them and then move to act in the love of Christ.
A.W. Tozer
“The multitudes that were so dear to Christ shall not be less dear to me. If I cannot prevent their moral suicide, I shall at least baptize them with my human tears. I want no blessing that I cannot share. I seek no spirituality that I must win at the cost of forgetting that men and women are lost and without hope. If in spite of all I can do they will sin against light and bring upon themselves the displeasure of a holy God, then I must not let them go their sad way unwept. I scorn a happiness that I must purchase with ignorance. I reject a heaven that I must enter by shutting my eyes to the sufferings of my fellow men. I choose a broken heart rather than any happiness that ignores the tragedy of human life and human death. Though I, through the grace of God in Christ, no longer lie under Adam’s sin, I would still feel a bond of compassion for all of Adam’s tragic race, and I am determined that I shall go down to the grave or up into God’s heaven mourning for the lost and the perishing.” —A.W. Tozer (emphasis added)
This is a weekly series with things I’m reading and pondering from Oswald Chambers. You can read the original seed thought here, or type “Thursdays With Oswald” in the search box to read more entries.
The Production Of A Saint
The production of a saint is the grandest thing earth can give to Heaven. A saint is not a person with a saintly character: a saint is a saintly character….
A saint is a living epistle written by the finger of God, known and read of all men. A saint may be any man… who discovering himself at Calvary, with the nature of sin uncloaked to him, lies in despair; then discerning Jesus Christ as the Substitute for sin and rising in the glamour of amazement, he cries out—“Jesus, I should be there.” And to his astonished spirit, he receives justification from all his sinfulness by that wonderful Atonement.
Then, standing in that great light, and placing his hands, as it were, over his Savior’s crucified hands, his feet over His crucified feet, he crucifies forever his right to himself, and He baptizes him with the Holy Spirit and fire, substituting in his a new principle of live, and identity of holiness with Himself, until he bears unmistakably a family likeness to Jesus Christ.
Every year I look forward to our Q Series, where I field questions folks have about spiritual matters. Not that I’m an expert, but I’m following the example of The Expert.
Jesus never tired of answering people’s longing questions. Sometimes He gave them a direct answer; sometimes He asked them a question in reply to their question; sometimes He answered their question with a story or parable. But one thing was always consistent: Jesus answered every question in a way that pointed people to His Heavenly Father.
That’s what I am attempting to do in our Q Series.
Yesterday I fielded questions about creation/evolution; Christ’s passion week and His death, burial, and resurrection; the names given to God; and even suicide. I pray each answer created a desire for others to dig deeper in Scripture and learn more about God.
In the book of Proverbs, Wisdom is personified as one calling out to those who want help to come to her with their questions. In the New Testament, James writes, “If anyone lacks wisdom, let him ask God for help.” So we need to keep asking The One who is The Truth.
If you would like to participate in our Q Series, please join us next Sunday at Calvary Assembly of God, or submit your question in the comments below and I’ll do my best to answer it. But even if I can’t, you know where to go!
A nice touch I appreciated in Andrew Murray’s book Raising Your Child To Love God was the prayers he included at the end of each of the 52 chapters of this book. Below are some of the lines of prayer which I found noteworthy. If you would like to read some other quotes from this book, click here. If you would like to read my book review of this book, click here.
“Give us a deep sense of our holy calling to train their immortal souls for You and for our glory.”
“By my life, by my words, by my prayers, by gentleness and love, by authority and instruction, I would lead them in the way of the Lord. Be my helper, Lord.”
“As we see the power of sin and the world threatening our children, may we plead for them as for our own life.”
“O Father, open the eyes of all Your people, that in each little one You give them their faith may see an extraordinary child.”
“I acknowledge, Lord, that I do not sufficiently realize the value of my children or the danger to which they are exposed from the prince and the spirit of this world. Lord, teach me fully to recognize the danger and yet never to fear the commandment of the King. Open my eyes to see that in the light of heaven each child is a special child, entrusted to my keeping and training for your work and kingdom. Help me in the humility and watchfulness and boldness of faith to keep him sheltered, to hide him from the power of the world and of sin. May my own life be the life of faith, hid with Christ in God, that my child may know no other dwelling place.”
“O God, teach us to feel deeply that You have need of our children. For the building up of Your temple, in the struggle of Your kingdom with the powers of darkness, in the gathering of Your people from the millions of lost, You have need of our children. We give them to You. We will train them for You. We will wait in prayer and faith, and we beseech You to inspire them with a holy enthusiasm for the kingdom and its conquests.”
“Grant that I may always live worthy of all honor. And may the holy power to train young souls to keep Your commandments, to honor and serve You, be the fruit of Your own Spirit’s work in me.”
“Make our home a blessing to others, encouraging them to take a stand for You.”
“Teach me always to speak to him of Your love so that his heart will early be won to You. May my whole life be an inspiration, guiding him to what is pure and lovely, to what is holy and well pleasing to You.”
“Dear God, help me to teach my children the fear of the Lord by instruction, example, and the spirit of my own life. May thoughtfulness, truthfulness, and lovingkindness mark the conversation of my home. May the life of all in my care by holy unto the Lord. Daily I would show them, through Your grace, how departing from every evil, doing every good, and following after peace and holiness is what true fear of the Lord produces.”
“I am weak, but I know Your almighty power is working in me to keep me humble yet hopeful, conscious of my weakness yet confident in You.”
“O Lord, we draw nigh to You to claim the fulfillment of this promise on behalf of our beloved children. Lord, may they from their very youth have Your Spirit poured out upon them that even in the simplicity of childhood they may say, ‘I belong to the Lord.’”
“Because our child has been presented to You as Jesus was, may this be the beginning of a likeness that will take possession of his whole life. Give grace to Your servants. May we be worthy parents, guardians, and guides of this child who has been given to the Lord. For Your name’s sake. Amen.”
“May my daily experience of the way in which Your shepherd-love does its work be a lesson that teaches me how to feed my little flock. … Let Your holy love in my heart be the inspiring power of all my communion with You and with them. And let me so prove how wonderfully You are my Shepherd and blessed I am to be their shepherd.”
“O God, how we bless You for the promise that our home is to be Your home, the abode of Your Holy Spirit, and that in the happy life of love between parents and children, the Spirit of Your divine love is to be the link that binds us together.”
“Set me apart as a parent so to live as one baptized into Christ’s death that first my life and later my teaching may lead my child to experience this blessed life in Christ.”
“I come to You humbly confessing my sin. Often misbehavior in my children has been met by sinful response on my part. I know that this only discourages them. I want to be a parent who models patient love, helping them in their weakness, and by my example encouraging them with the assurance that they, too, can overcome difficulty.”
This is a weekly series with things I’m reading and pondering from Oswald Chambers. You can read the original seed thought here, or type “Thursdays With Oswald” in the search box to read more entries.
Are You A Saint?
The New Testament idea of a saint is not a cloistered sentiment gathering around the head of an individual like a halo of glory, but a holy character reacting on life in deeds of holiness.
From Christian Disciplines
Artists usually depict saints the same way they depicted Jesus: Someone with an angelic face, a heavenly glow around the top of their head, looking longingly up into heaven.
In reality, saints aren’t solitary but are constantly involved with other people. If there’s a glow on their face, it’s probably a glow of glistening sweat. There are callouses on their hands, and dirt under their fingernails from helping others. And if they are looking up to heaven, it’s in a moment of prayer trying to discern what God wants them to do next.
A saint is busy trying to live more and more like Jesus, Who came to feed the hungry, heal the sick, encourage the brokenhearted, bring hope to the hopeless, and show the love of God in touchable ways.
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Craig T. Owens 