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 Etceteras
Do you regard yourself as a highly respectable, dignified Christian? Are you religiously self-important, placing yourself where you fancy you ought to be placed, in stately surroundings? If so, you are not following Jesus Christ’s example.
If you cannot do ordinary things and live as nobody anywhere, you are not a saint. Jesus left Heaven and lived nowhere of any importance all His earthly life. There is a religiosity that is inspired by the devil, that gathers its skirts around it and says, “No, I cannot be in ordinary places, or in ordinary avocations; I am a servant of God.” Then you will be found nowhere but in the very commonest of common places.
You say you are called to be a missionary, a minister, a Christian worker: you are called to be a disciple of Jesus Christ, other things are etceteras.
I can think of only one reasonable response to this: I need to go look in the mirror and ask the Holy Spirit to show me where I’ve been more focused on the etceteras than I have on being a disciple of Jesus Christ.
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Today some call her “the holy mother” and revere her as a saint. But 2000 years ago, Mary saw herself as only an ordinary, faceless, fame-less, Israelite girl.
She came from Nazareth (a town of which people said, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?!”)
Nazareth was in the region of Galilee (an area of which people said, “No one special has ever come from Galilee”)
She was pledged to be married (probably a marriage that she had no say in)
And she was a young teenager
What did Mary think of herself? We can infer her self-image from what went on her mind when God’s angel greeted her with the words, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”
She was greatly troubled and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. Psychologists today would describe Mary’s response as inner dissonance—the feeling that something is not quite right, but she couldn’t put her finger on exactly what was wrong. The phrase greatly troubled is a single Greek word which means agitated and perplexed by doubts.
In short: the way the angel greeted Mary didn’t jive with the way Mary saw herself (see Luke 1:26-38).
Mary, like many of us still today, didn’t think she was worthy of God’s attention, let alone His special blessings.
But the word the angel used when he said she was highly favored is a wonderful word! It’s root word is grace, and it only appears twice in the New Testament. This word means God’s grace which is constantly reaching out to us, even when we’re unaware of it. Look at the other passage where this word is used—
God decided in advance to adopt us into His own family by bringing us to Himself through Jesus Christ. This is what He wanted to do, and it gave Him great pleasure. So we praise God for the glorious grace He has poured out on us who belong to His dear Son. (Ephesians 1:5-6 NLT)
How amazing! God wants to adopt you! It’s something that brings Him great pleasure, so He constantly pours out the blessing of His grace on us!
Are you worthy of God’s favor? YES!! Not because you did anything to earn it, but because Jesus paid the price for you on the Cross.
Now you need to respond the way Mary did. The angel told Mary to “Fear not!” The verb tense implies that Mary needed to stop fretting about her (un)worthiness, and simply accept the grace that God was extending to her. In other words, she needed to see herself as God saw her.
Mary’s response should be our response: “I am the Lord’s servant. May it be to me as you have said.”
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.
Since the children have flesh and blood, [Jesus] too shared in their humanity so that by His death He might destroy him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil…. Because He Himself suffered when He was tempted, He is able to help those who are being tempted. … Therefore, holy brothers, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus…. (Hebrews 2:14, 18; 3:1)
Jesus defeated every temptation as a Man. He didn’t use His prerogatives as God to defeat the devil’s temptations; He faced them as we do: as a Man in the flesh.
Therefore, I need to fix my thoughts on Jesus.
[Think carefully about Jesus in the New Living Translation]
Jesus defeated—destroyed!—the devil by His death. Did God die? No! But the Man part—the human part of Jesus—died on the Cross. Then God raised Jesus from the dead. Was God dead? No! The Man part of Jesus was dead, and the Man part was resurrected.
Therefore, I need to fix my thoughts on Jesus.
[Thoughtfully and attentively consider Jesus in the Amplified Bible]
Jesus alone is able to help me. I cannot defeat the devil or his temptations on my own. Jesus defeated the devil’s temptation by His total reliance on the Father, and I can gain a victory over temptation by no other means.
Therefore, I need to fix my thoughts on Jesus.
[Look carefully at Jesus in the God’s Word translation]
Jesus suffered through temptation, but He was victorious and without sin. I too suffer through temptation, but He is able to help those who are being tempted! He can help me be victorious too!
Therefore, I need to fix my thoughts on Jesus.
[Fix your eyes and mind upon Jesus in the Greek Dictionary]
Where are your thoughts today? If they are on what you can do to defeat temptation, you’ll be disappointed in the outcome. Fix your thoughts: turn your full attention to Jesus!
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.
Don’t Try To Be Humble
Whoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is the greatest in the kingdom of Heaven. (Matthew 18:4)
If humility were put up as an ideal it would serve only to increase pride. Humility is not an ideal, it is the unconscious result of the life being rightly related to God and centered in Him. …
If we are born again and obeying the Holy Spirit, we shall unconsciously manifest humility all along the line. We shall easily be the servant of all men, not because it is our ideal, but because we cannot help it. Our eye is not consciously on our service, but on our Savior.
Humility is so very fragile. If you look at your humility, you cannot help feeling pride at how humble you are. And—poof!—your humility disappears.
Oswald Chambers says in essence, “Don’t try to be humble. Don’t look at your humility. Just keep your eyes on Jesus, and serve only Him.” By doing so, you cannot help but live humbly.
“If we are born again and obeying the Holy Spirit, we shall unconsciously manifest humility all along the line. We shall easily be the servant of all men, not because it is our ideal, but because we cannot help it.”
I know I’ve read this verse before, but today it just seemed to leap off the page…
Both the One who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers.(Hebrews 2:11)
Did you catch that word BOTH? This places me in the same category as God Himself!
I am the one made holy because Jesus died in my place. Jesus paid the price for the forgiveness of my sins, and for the righteousness of God to be given to me!
Then notice it doesn’t say we are being made holy, but madeholy. It is finished.
Now Jesus is pleased to call us His brothers and sisters!
ABSOLUTELY AMAZING!!
When I read something like this, an important question comes to mind: How should I now live?
Confidently—because I am accepted into God’s family.
Humbly—because I didn’t pay the price, but Jesus paid it on my behalf.
Thankfully—because there is no greater gift I could ever receive.
Christmas is a time of celebration, peace on earth, and goodwill toward men! But have you ever stopped to wonder why the celebration? Yes, it’s the time we celebrate Jesus Christ’s birth, and the advent of His ministry on earth. But what’s the real good news about that?
In the Christmas stories recorded in the gospels of Matthew and Luke, there is a recurring phrase—
FEAR NOT!
Fear paralyzes. Fear blinds. Fear immobilizes. Fear exaggerates all that is wrong. Fear obscures all that is right.
Before Jesus comes into our lives, we are slaves to fear. Before Jesus comes into our lives, we aren’t truly alive.
So let the good news of Christmas ring out again—FEAR NOT!
We will be talking about the good news of this Christmas message each Sunday leading up to Christmas. I hope you can join me at Calvary Assembly of God as we learn more about the fear-busting, joyful news that Jesus can set you free.
If you missed any of the messages in this series, check them out here:
How about saying “No” to temptations? Perhaps this thought will help.
For the grace of God…teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age. (Titus 2:11-12)
How does grace teach me to say, “No”?
The more I realize how much it cost Jesus to extend grace to me, the more I will realize what I can do to show gratitude for this amazing gift. I show my appreciation for this inestimable gift by saying “No” to ungodliness, AND saying “Yes” to godliness.
Saying “Yes” to my sinful passions is like a slap in the face of God. It’s saying that what I want to indulge in is somehow more valuable than Christ’s death on the Cross.
To live a self-controlled, upright, godly life is the bare minimum I can do to show my gratitude to my Savior! Grace is not a license to live as I want to live. Grace teaches me to say “No” to anything that would offend Jesus Christ.
George Whitefield said, “Think of the love of Jesus and let that love constrain you to keep near unto Him.” Which reminds me of a stanza of an old song—
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.
A Hard Word
Have you ever heard the Master say a hard word?—if you have not, I question whether you have heard Him say anything. Jesus Christ says a great deal that we listen to, but do not hear. … Our Lord has a perfect understanding that when once His word is heard, it will bear fruit sooner or later. The terrible heartbreak is that some of us prevent its bearing fruit in actual life. …
Beware of allowing anything to soften a hard word of Jesus. It is a terrible thing to see how we keep Jesus Christ waiting. … We twist His words and debate about their meaning, we discuss His teachings and expound His Gospel, and all the time we leave Him absolutely alone because at the center of our heart there is the gnawing grip of one of His hard sayings that keeps us sorrowful, and He waits until we come and lay it all down.
All the time in between has been utterly wasted as far as Jesus Christ is concerned, no matter how active we have been, or how much we have been a blessing to others, because none of it has sprung from devotion to Him but from devotion to an idea….
Not a question of saying, “Lord, I will do it,” but of doing it. There must be the reckless committal of everything to Him with no regard for the consequences.
Jesus, when you speak a word to my heart—no matter how hard it seems—may I quickly obey what You have spoken. May I never waste time trying to figure it out, water it down, or soften a hard word, but may I be recklessly obedient to You.
I am reminded again that my stressful feelings come because things are not going according to my plans. This can only mean one thing: Somehow I have let myself believe that I am in control of all my circumstances!
Enough!It’s time to once and for all give my concerns to the only One who can handle them.
“‘Come unto Me,’ says Jesus, ‘and I will give you rest.’ Do Jesus Christ’s words apply to me? Does He really know my circumstances? Fretting is sinful if you are a child of God. Get back to God and tell Him with shame that you have been bolstering up that stupid soul of yours with the idea that your circumstances are too much for Him. Ask Him to forgive you and say, ‘Lord, I take Thee into my calculation as the biggest factor now!’” —Oswald Chambers
The Etceteras 
Craig T. Owens 