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.
Beautiful Grapes
If we believe in Jesus, it is not what we gain but what He pours through us that really counts. God’s purpose is not simply to make us beautiful, plump grapes, but to make us grapes so that He may squeeze the sweetness out of us. Our spiritual life cannot be measured by success as the world measures it, but only by what God pours through us—and we cannot measure that at all.
The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. (Galatians 5:22-23)
The Holy Spirit wants to bring to maturity ALL of these fruit in my life. Not so that I can pat myself on my back and say, “Look at how fruitful I am!” But so that God may squeeze me out where He needs me.
So I’m pondering…
Am I allowing the Holy Spirit to develop this fruit in me?
When I am fruitful, am I allowing God to squeeze me? Or do I run from it?
What good is to be a Christian without bearing fruit?
What good is it to have the fruit but not let God squeeze it?
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 Test
The test of Christianity is that a man lives better than he preaches. …Christianity does not consist in telling the truth, or walking in a conscientious way, or adhering to principles; Christianity is something other than all that, it is adhering in absolute surrender to a Person, the Lord Jesus Christ.
From Baffled To Fight Better
I say, “I want my walk to match my talk.”
Jesus says, “I want your walk to exceed your talk.”
I say, “I’m not perfect, but I hope I’m good enough.”
Jesus says, “Be perfect, just as My Father in Heaven is perfect.”
I cannot do any of these things on my own. I can only do them by surrendering to my Lord.
We need to elevate our vocabulary when it comes to God and the things about His nature and His Kingdom.
I was convicted of this a few years ago. I came home from church and was watching an NFL game on a Sunday afternoon, when a receiver made an amazingly acrobatic catch for a touchdown. I jumped off the couch and shouted, “That. Was. Awesome!!
Immediately the Holy Spirit brought something to my mind. “When you were worshiping at church this morning,” He gently reminded me, “didn’t you say how awesome God was? Is He as awesome as that catch?”
Right then and there I decided that I needed to be more careful of my vocabulary. I want to reserve words for God that I used nowhere else. Theologians do it all the time: creating new words to try to capture the majesty, omnipotence, and mind-blowing-vocabulary-defying greatness of Almighty God.
I’m certainly not perfect at this, but I’m working on it.
I was reminded of this again when I read these words from Charles Spurgeon:
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.
Martin Luther said:
“There is no more lovely, friendly, and charming relationship, communion, or company than a good marriage.”
Unfortunately our culture has watered-down and diminished the value of marriage. Far too often marriage is seen as something which diminishes life, instead of enhancing it.
Perhaps this is because we have been viewing marriage with the wrong math.
Marriage is NOT ½ + ½ = 1
That makes sense mathematically, but it’s inaccurate. God didn’t create us a half-people.God created us whole and complete. So our spouse is not our better half, he/she is our better whole.
Not coincidentally, X (chi) is the first Greek letter of the name Christ. When Christ is at the center of a marriage, and when the husband and wife are more in love with Him than they are with their spouse, then a wholeness exists in the marriage.
1 X 1 = 1 is the type of marriage that glorifies God.
1 X 1 =1 is the type of marriage that is so lovely, friendly, and charming.
If you are single, keep yourself pure so you can bring your “oneness” as a gift to your future spouse. If you are married, keep the X—Jesus Christ—at the center of your marriage.
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.
Fasting From Eloquence
Belief in Jesus is a miracle produced only by the effectiveness of redemption, not by impressive speech, nor by wooing and persuading, but only by the sheer unaided power of God. The creative power of redemption comes through the preaching of the Gospel, but never because of the personality of the preacher.
Real and effective fasting by a preacher is not fasting from food, but fasting from eloquence, from impressive diction, and from everything else that might hinder the gospel of God being presented. The preacher is there as the representative of God—‘as though God were pleading through us…’ (2 Corinthians 5:20). He is there to present the Gospel of God. If it is only because of my preaching that people desire to be better, they will never get close to Jesus Christ. Anything that flatters me in my preaching of the gospel will result in making me a traitor to Jesus, and I prevent the creative power of His redemption from doing its work.
So much of pastoring focuses on the preaching. And yet Chambers says, “If it is only because of my preaching that people desire to be better, they will never get close to Jesus Christ.”
He’s right: It’s not about me or my preaching. My focus is on what Jesus said: “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me” (John 12:32).
Psalm 22 is a prayer of raw desperation. I love how transparent David is with his emotions. Many people would hide this sort of thing: never daring to admit that they had doubts. But David freely admits that he’s frustrated by what is happening—or actually not happening—in his life.
I see three points of David’s desperation:
God, why don’t You answer me (vv. 1-2).
God, why don’t You defend my honor (vv. 6-8).
God, why don’t You rescue me (vv. 11-18).
Do you think David had a right to say these things against God? Remember Jesus said them too!
Do you think David was over-reacting when he said these things? Remember Jesus said them too!
David truly, deeply, felt these things. He truly believed that God wasn’t answering him, or defending him, or rescuing him. At least, AS HE THOUGHT GOD SHOULD!
But David says something VITAL after each of his points of desperation. It’s summed up in one conjunction each time…
Yet (vv. 3-5).
Yet (vv. 9-10).
But (vv. 19-21).
In all of these David recalls past history. David looks to the past to help him look to the future.
He BACKCASTS so that he can have a better FORECAST!
Looking back gives David assurance of God’s faithfulness. This assurance gives David hope for the future. So now look how he responds in his present desperate situation:
I will declare Your name (v. 22a)
I will praise You (v. 22b)
He calls others to join him in praise (v. 23)
He realizes that God has not hidden His face… but He has listened to his cry for help (v. 24)
He decides to praise God in spite of the temporary disappointments, giving all glory to God (vv. 25-31)
This is what is called a typio-prophetic Messianic psalm: what David experienced, Jesus would both experience and fulfill. So although Jesus cried out, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me,” He too could backcast to forecast and get the strength He needed to persevere…
Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith, Who for the joy set before Him endured the Cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:2)
This is why I’m a big believer in journals: writing things down now will give you ammunition for future trials. Then when you are in those trials, you can backcast to get a better forecast of the hope for God’s deliverance. That will give you joy in the present, just like David. And just like Jesus!
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple or Spotify.
The waters looked choppy, the waves seemed so strong, and the rocks where the surf crashed on the shore seemed like cruel, dull, black teeth. And who knew what was under the surface of the water that I couldn’t see? Just the thought of swimming in those murky gray-green waters made my stomach twist into knots! But my friend announced, “I’m going for a swim.”
I tried to talk him out of it, “You’re joking, right? Do you realize how dangerous that is?”
“Relax,” my friend tried to reassure me with an unconvincing smile, “I know what I’m doing. I’ve swum in waters like these before, lots of times. I can handle it.” He headed off toward that pounding, angry sea with what seemed to be a swagger of confidence, but there was something in his eyes that seemed to be silently imploring me, “Please, save me!”
My friend had been going through a rough patch. His business which started out so well was now on the brink of closing in this crummy economy. Instead of realizing there was not much he could do in this downturn, my friend began to think that he was the failure. Recently at church—where turning from one’s sordid past is supposed to be celebrated—some scoundrels dredged up his past and used it as a cruel weapon against him. These mean-spirited, unforgiving people were jealous of my friend’s success in allowing Jesus to help him turn his life around. My friend did nothing wrong, but the spiteful words of these hypocritical church-attendees made him relive his forgiven past. Although he didn’t say it, I knew these hurtful words caused him to second-guess his value to God. And now, just last week, my friend happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and was charged by the police with a minor misdemeanor. No jail time nor fines were going to be imposed on him, just a few hours of community service. But yet again my friend’s self-esteem took a hit as he walked through this embarrassing process.
So now here he is feeling beat up, thinking to himself, “I’m a worthless failure,” walking toward something dangerous. I can’t understand why. Is he trying to escape reality? Does he really feel that poorly about himself? Doesn’t he see how much his wife and his friends love him? Does he feel so dead inside that this dangerous behavior makes him feel something again? Or does he feel too much and this dive into risky waters is merely an attempt to numb the pain, to self-medicate away the accusing thoughts?
While I was contemplating all of this, I didn’t realize what my friend had done. He had not only reached the shore and waded into the swirling waters, but he was now bobbing quite far from shore. All I could see was his head and shoulders. And his blank, lifeless, passionless face.
He seemed to be bobbing further and further away from me, and closer and closer to those vicious teeth-like rocks.
I ran down to the shore, as close to that angry ocean as I could get, and yelled. I don’t know whether he was ignoring me or couldn’t hear me, but he didn’t respond. He bobbed farther away and I yelled louder and waved my arms. I pointed at the rocks looming closer and closer with every swell of the sea. I screamed until my throat was raw. He drifted farther from me. He waved. And I heard just two distinguishable syllables above the pounding surf and howling wind, “…okay….”
“Okay?! Do you think it’s okay?! You’re killing yourself! It’s not okay!” My friend’s face changed. No longer was it a blank stare, there was emotion there now. I blinked my eyes against the spray of the ocean; I looked intently at my friend’s face. Then I saw it etched in the lines on his forehead. I saw it in his eyes. Panic!
I stared at him, my mind racing what to do. And then I heard it: two more syllables distinguishable above the roar. Two syllables that shot me into action: “Help me!”
I frantically looked around and spotted a tattered, faded orange life vest. It was really only half a life vest, but at least it still floated. It was tangled in seaweed and stained with muddy sand. I grabbed it, ran toward the shore, and flung the life vest toward my friend. It wasn’t a very good throw. Whether it was the wind or my weak attempt, the orange vest didn’t get very close to him. But even so, what was more disturbing was that my friend didn’t even make a movement toward it.
I got frustrated and stomped my foot in anger. Angry at my poor first attempt at a rescue, and angry that my friend made no attempt to reach out for what I had thrown him. I looked around again. I spotted an unattended lifeguard station 75 yards away. I raced to it and found an intact white life ring with a bright red cross emblazoned on it. I grabbed the life ring, sprinted back as close to my friend as I could get, and heaved the life ring as far as I could. It flew through the air. It seemed unimpeded by the wind, and landed within a few feet of my friend! The white and red ring stood out clearly in the dark waters!
I almost let out a shout of victory! Salvation for my friend was within arm’s reach of him! Yet my friend didn’t move. He wouldn’t reach for the help that was right there.
“Does your friend need help?” a strong voice behind me asked.
I wheeled around to see a tall, athletic man. A Lifeguard! “Yes! Yes, he needs help!”
The Lifeguard looked out across the churning waves and saw my friend getting closer and closer to those jagged rocks. It seemed like the next swell of the sea would dash him on those black sea-teeth. “Yes,” the Man said, “I can help him.”
My heart leaped and then seemed to stop in the very next heartbeat. The Lifeguard wasn’t moving. He just stood there looking at my friend.
“I can help him,” he repeated, “If he will simply ask for My help.”
“He did ask for help,” I argued. “I’ve been trying to help him.”
“No, he really doesn’t want help,” the Lifeguard said. “I can save him, but he has to ask Me to do it. And,” he added turning to look at me, “you have to leave.”
“What? He’s my friend! I’m not leaving him!”
“If he is your friend, you have to. You have to love him enough to leave him to Me. He’s been here before, and I have rescued him before. But as long as you’re here throwing flotation devices to him he will keep the rescue attempts alive without ever actually allowing himself to be rescued. The most loving thing you can do for your friend is leave him to Me.”
“How long?” I asked quietly, knowing in my heart that noble Lifeguard was right.
“That all depends on him,” the Lifeguard said. “As soon as you leave, that may get his attention and he may call out for My help immediately. Or he may wait until things get even more desperate. It’s his choice. I am the only One who can save him from this surf now. But he must call on Me before he is smashed on the rocks. I will not leave this spot. I will not sleep or become distracted. I will never leave your friend because I love him. I love him even more than you love him. So the sooner you leave him to Me, the sooner he can cry out for My help.”
I stood there weighing the Lifeguard’s words. I knew He was right, yet I didn’t want to leave my friend. And then He repeated, “The most loving thing you can do for your friend is leave him to Me.”
So I walked away.
That was last night. No word from the Lifeguard or my friend yet. I’m still waiting—and praying—that my friend will cry out for help to the only Lifeguard that can save him now.
I did the most loving thing I could have done. I left my friend to Him.
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 Religious Poser
It is difficult to evade pose in religious life. … If you have the idea that your duty is to catch other people, it puts you on a superior platform at once and your whole attitude takes on the guise of a prig….
The religious pose is based, not on a personal relationship to God, but on adherence to a creed. Immediately we mistake God for a creed, or Jesus Christ for a form of belief, we begin to patronize what we do not understand. When anyone is in pain the thing that hurts more than anything else is pose….
From Baffled To Fight Better
How do I avoid religious posing?
Develop a deeply intimate, highly personalized relationship with Jesus Christ.
Allow everyone around me to have their own deeply intimate, highly personalized relationship with Jesus Christ.
I cannot fake it, nor can I ask someone to be just like me or believe just like me. I need to let God be as original with everyone else as He is with me.
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.
Unconscious Blasphemy
For you to say, “Oh, I’m no saint,” is acceptable by human standards of pride, but it is unconscious blasphemy against God. You defy God to make you a saint, as if to say, “I am too weak and hopeless and outside the reach of the atonement by the Cross of Christ.” Why aren’t you a saint? It is either that you do not want to be a saint, or that you do not believe that God can make you into one.
To Him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before His glorious presence without fault and with great joy—to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen. (Jude 1:24-25)
His idea is that the Jesus that is presented in the Bible—which is also the Jesus that is presented to someone who doesn’t have a personal relationship with Him—is different from the Jesus people see in the organized church and in professing Christians. The Jesus in the Bible (or before someone becomes a Christian) is seen in freedom and abundant life. But the Jesus in the church (or after someone becomes a Christian) is a rule-keeping killjoy.
Honestly, I expected this book to be a church-bashing book. I excepted Rubel Shelly to come out blasting away on the rephrase I-love-Jesus-but-I-can’t-stand-His-followers! So I was more than pleasantly surprised right from the first chapter—appropriately titled “Pro-Jesus and Pro-Church”—that this book was not taking that track. Instead, Shelly makes the distinction between “institutionalized religiosity” and a vibrant personalized relationship between God and mankind. Then out of the overflow of this personalized relationship with God, a Christian’s outward lifestyle toward others should be notably more Christ-like.
This book is not targeted at any one segment. There are parts that every pastor would do well to heed. Then there are other parts that anyone who calls themselves Christian should read. And there are even parts that those not involved in a church or a relationship with Christ should take note of.
If, by the title, you were expecting to see the church get beat up, you will be sadly disappointed. However, if you feel like the Church has no room for improvement, you will not only be disappointed, but probably a bit angered too! On the other hand, those who love Christ and love His Bride (the Church), and want to see the Church operating more as she should, you will find much to process in this book.
Beautiful Grapes
Craig T. Owens 