Oswald Chambers | Craig T. Owens

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Thursdays With Oswald—A Strong Weakness

May 12, 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.

A Strong Weakness

Are not my days few? cease then, and let me alone, that I may take comfort a little, before I go whence I shall not return, even to the land of darkness and the shadow of death. (Job 10:20-21)

“I see no way out,” says Job. He lies down, not in weakness, but in absolute exhaustion. Job is not talking in a petted mood, but saying that unless God will be a Refuge for him, there is no way out, death is the only thing. In every crisis of life, as represented in the Old Testament as well as in the teaching of Our Lord, this aspect of God is emphasized—“God is our Refuge”; yet until we are hit by sorrow, it is the last thing we seek for God to be. There is a difference between the weakness of refusing to think and the weakness that comes from facing facts as they really are. Job is seeing for the first time that God is the only Refuge, the only way out for him; yet he cannot get at Him through his creed, it is all confusion; the only thing to do is to fling himself on God.

From Baffled To Fight Better

“The only thing to do is to fling [myself] on God.”

Alas, how many times does this become my last resort! Why don’t I learn to fling myself on God my Refuge as my first resort? I must remember this: For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12:10)

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: 2 Corinthians, job, Oswald Chambers, strength, trust, weakness. Leave a Comment »

Thursdays With Oswald—Revised Views Of God

May 5, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

Revised Views Of God

The sign of dishonesty in a man’s creed is that he finds out defects in everyone save himself. … Trouble always arises when men will not revise their views of God. … It is a most painful thing for a man to find that his stated views of God are not adequate….

The man who rests in a creed is apt to be a coward and refuse to come into a personal relationship with God. The whole point of vital Christianity is not the refusal to face things, but a matter of personal relationship.

From Baffled To Fight Better

Every time I read God’s Word I should be confronted with the reality that I don’t know it all. I don’t have it figured out. That’s because the Word is perfect, and I’m not. So the Holy Spirit uses the Word of God to point out flaws in my creeds and theology that need to change.

For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12)

I also need to remember that a creed is a cold, impersonal thing. But my relationship with Jesus Christ is vibrant and personal. Just as I continue to learn new things about my wife (even after 21 years of marriage), I continue to learn new things about my Savior (even after 40+ years of walking with Him).

Changing and revising my creeds is a sign of a mature, healthy relationship.

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: Bible, Bible study, creed, doctrine, Hebrews, Oswald Chambers, relationship, Scripture, theology. Leave a Comment »

Thursdays With Oswald—Don’t Explain; Pray

April 28, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

Don’t Explain; Pray

Eliphaz claimed to know exactly where Job was, and Bildad claims the same thing. Job was hurt, and these men tried to heal him with platitudes. The place for the comforter is not that of one who preaches, but of the comrade who says nothing, but prays to God about the matter. The biggest thing you can do for those who are suffering is not to talk platitudes, not to ask questions, but to get into contact with God…. Job’s friends never once prayed for him; all they did was to try and make coin for the enrichment of their own creed out of his sufferings.

From Baffled To Fight Better

Great reminder: The biggest thing you can do for those who are suffering is…get into contact with God on their behalf.

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: Bildad, Eliphaz, empathy, friends, intercession, job, Oswald Chambers, prayer, Zophar. Leave a Comment »

Thursdays With Oswald—Hate Properly

April 21, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

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.

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: anger, Gospel of Luke, Gospel of Mark, Gospel of Matthew, hate, Judges, Oswald Chambers, proverbs, righteousness, Zechariah. Leave a Comment »

Thursdays With Oswald—Pseudo-evangelism

April 14, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

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!

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: evangelism, God questions, Oswald Chambers, quotes, Thomas Huxley. Leave a Comment »

Thursdays With Oswald—Bad Theology

April 7, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

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.

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: G.K. Chesterton, idolatry, Isaiah, job, Oswald Chambers, quote, theology. 2 Comments »

Thursdays With Oswald—Trials

March 31, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

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!

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: 2 Peter, Book of James, difficulties, favor, Oswald Chambers, perseverance, rewards, trials. Leave a Comment »

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.

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: Bible study, biblical literacy, book review, ethics, Jesus Christ, Oswald Chambers, Sermon on the Mount. 22 Comments »

Thursdays With Oswald—Obstinacy Or Determination?

March 24, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

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?

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: Henry Ward Beecher, lifelong learner, Oswald Chambers, perseverance, quote, stick-to-it-iveness. Leave a Comment »

Thursdays With Oswald—Spiritual Overloading

March 17, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

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.