Thursdays With Oswald—Hate Properly

April 21, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

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.

Hate Properly

     A Quaker friend of mine referring to a certain man said he did not like him because he did not hate properly. … The Christian standpoint should be one of positive anger when anyone is made to stumble. To remain indifferent when there is injustice abroad is to come under the curse of Meroz, who “came not to the help of the Lord…against the mighty” (Judges 5:23).

From Baffled To Fight Better

There are six things the Lord hates, seven that are detestable to Him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, a false witness who pours out lies and a man who stirs up dissension among brothers. (Proverbs 6:16-19)

But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea. (Matthew 18:6; Mark 9:42; Luke 17:2)

And the word of the Lord came again to Zechariah: “This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the alien or the poor. In your hearts do not think evil of each other.’ But they refused to pay attention; stubbornly they turned their backs and stopped up their ears. They made their hearts as hard as flint and would not listen to the law or to the words that the LORD Almighty had sent by his Spirit through the earlier prophets. So the Lord Almighty was very angry.” (Zechariah 7:8-12)

It’s time for us to get positively angry and hate the things that God hates.

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Thursdays With Oswald—Pseudo-evangelism

April 14, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

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.

Pseudo-evangelism

It was this form of pseudo-evangelism, so unlike the New Testament evangelism, that made [Thomas] Huxley say—“I object to Christians: they know too much about God.” … God is the only Being who can afford to be misunderstood; we cannot not, Job could not, but God can. If we are misunderstood we “get about” the man as soon as we can. St. Augustine prayed, “O Lord, deliver me from this lust of always vindicating myself.” God never vindicates Himself, He deliberately stands aside and lets all sorts of slanders heap on Him, yet He is not in any hurry.

From Baffled To Fight Better

I’m learning more and more that when people ask why God behaves in such-and-such a way that the best answer may be, “I don’t know why, but I still trust Him.” I trust Him even when I don’t have all of the answers, because I know He has all of the answers.

To try to answer for God—or, as is probably more likely, to try to defend my theology—is rightly called pseudo-evangelism. O Lord, deliver me from pseudo-evangelism!

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Thursdays With Oswald—Bad Theology

April 7, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

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.

Bad Theology

Job’s friends came slowly to the conclusion that their view of God was right, therefore Job must be wrong. They had the ban of finality [the limitation or “curse” of having one’s mind made up] about their views, which is always the result of theology being put before God.

From Baffled To Fight Better

Putting theology before God makes a god out of my mind—and a very weak god at that. Or as G.K. Chesterton put it, “A weak mind is like a microscope, which magnifies trifling things but cannot receive great ones.”

Or maybe God said it best of all: “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts higher than your thoughts.”

Job got it right. He continued to believe that God was doing something bigger than he could think or imagine. He didn’t close off his mind, or put his theology before God, or make a god out of his own ideas.

I pray that when the pressure is on, I can continue to trust God and not give in to the ban of finality.

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Thursdays With Oswald—Trials

March 31, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

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.

Trials

Christianity is drawing on the overflowing favor of God in the second of trial.

From Facing Reality

So you see, the Lord knows how to rescue godly people from their trials. (2 Peter 2:9)

Anyone who meets a testing challenge head-on and manages to stick it out is mighty fortunate. For such persons loyally in love with God, the reward is life and more life. (James 1:12)

In the moment of your trial, God is right there in the thick of it with you. He will bring you through. Draw on God’s overflowing favor and hang in there!

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Biblical Ethics (book review)

March 24, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

Like every book from Oswald Chambers, be prepared for Biblical Ethics to hit you right between the eyes! In my lifetime the term ethics has had so many qualifiers added to it: situational ethics … biomedical ethics … wartime ethics. As though ethics becomes something changeable if you are in a difficult situation.

But in clear, unequivocal language, Oswald Chambers brings all ethics back to the Bible.

Keying in most frequently on the teachings of Jesus from the Sermon on the Mount, Chambers helps us get to the true intention behind the ethical requirements of God’s Law. For any who would say, “But it’s too hard to figure out what Jesus actually meant,” Chambers replies,

“When we come across something we don’t like, we say we don’t understand it; it is too plain not to be understood.”

This is not light reading, but it is valuable reading. Serious disciples of Christ will be well-rewarded by reading and studying the wisdom in Biblical Ethics. If you would like to read more thoughts from Oswald Chambers, check out my weekly installment Thursdays With Oswald.

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Thursdays With Oswald—Obstinacy Or Determination?

March 24, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

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.

Obstinacy Or Determination?

     It is easy to be determined, and the curious thing is that the more small-minded a man is the more easily he makes up his mind. If he cannot see the various sides of a question, he decides by the ox-like quality of obstinacy. Obstinacy simply means “I will not allow any discernment in this matter; I refuse to be enlightened.” We wrongly call this strong-mindedness. Strength of mind is the whole man active, not discernment merely from an individual standpoint. The determination in a disciple is a comprehending one, “For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified,” says Paul.

From Facing Reality

     The difference between an obstinate man and a strong-minded man lies just here: an obstinate man refuses to use his intelligence when a matter is in dispute, while a strong-minded man makes his decision after having deliberately looked at it from all standpoints, and when opposed, he is willing to give reasons for his decision.

From Baffled To Fight Better

“The difference between perseverance and obstinacy is, that one often comes from a strong will, and the other from a strong won’t.” —Henry Ward Beecher

So in hanging onto (and defending) what I believe, am I being obstinate or justly determined? 

Hmmm? What do you think?

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Thursdays With Oswald—Spiritual Overloading

March 17, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

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.

Spiritual Overloading

       One continually finds an encroachment of beliefs and of attachment to things which is so much spiritual overloading. Every now and again the Spirit of God calls us to take a spiritual stock-taking in order to see what beliefs we can do without. The things our Lord asks us to believe are remarkably few, and John 14:1 seems to sum them up—“Ye believe in God, believe also in Me.” We have to keep ourselves alertly detached from everything that would encroach on that belief; we all have intellectual and affectionate affinities that keep us detached from Jesus Christ instead of attached to Him. We have to maintain an alert spiritual fighting trim.

From Facing Reality

Probably because I’m still studying and preparing for our Overloaded series, but I’ve been especially tuned into to the idea of all sorts of overload… even (especially) spiritual overloading. I never want to fall victim to the same trap the Pharisees were in:

Then Jesus said to the crowds and to His disciples, “The teachers of religious law and the Pharisees are the official interpreters of the law of Moses. So practice and obey whatever they tell you, but don’t follow their example. For they don’t practice what they teach. They crush people with unbearable religious demands and never lift a finger to ease the burden.” (Matthew 23:1-4)

I don’t want to overload myself; nor do I want to overload those I teach. So I’m taking a hard look in the mirror—and listening closely to the Holy Spirit—about those spiritual overloading things that may be crushing me.

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Thursdays With Oswald—Stronger

March 10, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

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.

Stronger

       If we believe in a state of mind He produces in us, we will be disappointed, because circumstances will come in our lives when these works of Jesus Christ are shadowed over; but if we believe in Him, no matter how dark the passage is we shall be carried right through, and when the crisis is passed our souls will have been built into a stronger attitude towards Him.

From Facing Reality

Job certainly went through a “dark passage”! Yet in the midst of it he said, “But principled people hold tight, keep a firm grip on life, sure that their clean, pure hands will get stronger and stronger” (Job 17:9).

And as David passed through his “dark passage” he confidently stated—

I prayed to the Lord, and He answered me.
      He freed me from all my fears.
Those who look to Him for help will be radiant with joy;
      no shadow of shame will darken their faces.
In my desperation I prayed, and the Lord listened;
      He saved me from all my troubles.
For the angel of the Lord is a guard;
      He surrounds and defends all who fear Him….

The righteous person faces many troubles,
      but the Lord comes to the rescue each time. (Psalm 34:4-7, 19)

My friend, hold on to Jesus. Hold on! He will carry you through, and you will build a stronger faith.

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Thursdays With Oswald—Yielded

March 3, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

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.

Yielded

       There is a distinct period in our experience when we cease to say—“Lord, show me Thy will,” and the realization begins to dawn that we are God’s will, and He can do with us what He likes. We wake up to the knowledge that we have the privilege of giving ourselves over to God’s will. It is a question of being yielded to God.

From Facing Reality

For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (Ephesians 2:10)

Thank You for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it. (Psalm 139:14)

God has a plan for my life. He prepared me in advance to fulfill His will and plan for me. Will I yield to Him? Or will I continue to try to find my own way?

What a supreme privilege it is to yield to His will for my life!

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Thursdays With Oswald—Broken And Crucified

February 24, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

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.

Broken

       We need to remember that we cannot train ourselves to be Christians; we cannot discipline ourselves to be saints; we cannot bend ourselves to the will of God: we have to be broken to the will of God.

From Facing Reality

Crucified

       To “crucify” means to put to death, not counteract, not sit on, not whitewash, but kill. If I do not put to death the things in me which are not of God, they will put to death the things that are of God.

From Biblical Ethics

Jesus said to His disciples, “If any of you wants to be My follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow Me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for My sake, you will save it.”

Then Jesus said, “Come to Me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you. Let Me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.”

I’m trying to live broken and crucified. Will you join me in this daily pursuit?

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