Walking, stumbling, but treading onward towards Christ
The more I read from Oswald Chambers, who penned the classic devotional My Utmost For His Highest, the more I am coming to the conclusion that, if walking the earth today, he would be a kindred spirit to what we are doing at Cana. Here’s another piercing quote from Chambers on our call to love God and love others:
“Jesus has loved me to the end of all my meanness and selfishness and sin; now, He says, show that same love to others.”
- Oswald Chambers
“A Pharisee shuts you up, not by loud shouting, but by the unanswerable logic he presents; he is bound to principles, not to a relationship.”
- Oswald Chambers
“Trouble always arises when men will not revise their views of God.”
- Oswald Chambers
“To most of us it is a matter of moonshine whether Jesus Christ lived or died or did anything at all…It is only when we come to our wits’ ends, or reap a distress, or feel the first twinge of damnation and are knocked out of our complacent mental agility over things, that we recognize the love of God.”
- Oswald Chambers
The presentationJesus gives of the father is that he makes no conditions when the prodigal returns, neither does he bring home to him any remembrance of the far country — the elder brother does that. It is the revelation of the unfathomable, unalterable, amazing love of God. We would feel much happier in our backslidden condition if only we knew it had altered God towards us, but we know that immediately we do come back back we will find Him the same, and this is one of the things that keeps men from coming back. If God would only be angry and demand an apology, it would be a gratification to our pride. When we have done wrong we like to be lashed for it. God never lashes.
- Oswald Chambers
The older I get, the more I realize and experience the sobering reality of Christians being critical to other believers and assuming the worst about them. I came across some quotes from Oswald Chambers, author of the classic My Utmost For His Highest, tonight that should convict us and pierce us to the heart:
It takes God a long time to get us out of the way of thinking that unless everyone sees as we do, they must be wrong.
The average Christian is the most penetratingly critical individual, there is nothing of the likeness of Jesus Christ about him. A critical [spirit] is a contradiction to all our Lord’s teaching. Jesus says of criticism, ‘Apply it to yourself, never to anyone else.’ ‘Why does thou judge thy brother?’”
Jesus says regarding judging, ‘Dont! Be uncritical in your temper, because in the spiritual domain you can accomplish nothing by criticism.’ One of the severest lessons to learn is to leave the cases we don’t understand to God.
I want a change of the heart. Who is with me?
Subscribe to Pastor David Gentleman's weekly video podcast, available in iTunes.
