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DYING-TO-SELF Part 2 |
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BIBLE STUDIES (Newest ones are last) |
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Dying to Self Part 1 |
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Holiness or Hindering? |
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| 10/29/13 Holiness or Hindering? |
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"For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God." Colossians 3:3 |
| COMMENTS:
I have learned a lot from Oswald Chambers. Well, not from him
directly since he died in 1917. I'm old, but not that old! Some of his teachings were used to write the devotional My Utmost for His Highest. At a yard sale I bought one that has a place on each page to write my thoughts. This morning I read the March 25th devotional. It jumped up and hit me right between the eyes: POW! A while back I wrote an article on being holy. If you want to go read it here it is. Most people want to argue with me about it. My good friend's sister told me she knew someone who thought so and that person took great pride in "being holy" and bragged about it. Her conclusion was it was impossible to be holy. Alrighty then, that would be her opinion. The conclusion I drew was very different because I jumped right into the scriptures and into prayer about it. When I read what Oswald Chambers said about it I was thrilled. It re-confirmed what I knew to be true. Holiness is definitely achievable. He said: Goodness and purity ought never to attract attention to themselves, they ought simply to be magnets to draw to Jesus Christ. If my holiness is not drawing towards Him, it is not holiness of the right order, but an influence that will awaken inordinate affection and lead souls away into side-eddies. A beautiful saint may be a hindrance if he does not present Jesus Christ but only what Christ has done for him. He will leave the impression – "What a fine character that man is!" That is not being a true friend of the Bridegroom; I am increasing all the time, He is not. I underlined the second sentence for emphasis. The purpose of holiness is to turn us into windows so Jesus can be seen inside us. Like our scripture says, our life is "hid with Christ in God". Jesus only did what He saw God do (John 5:19). He was "hidden in God" the same as we are to be hidden in Christ. If we take credit for the things we are doing we are not a window, we are a curtain in front of the window. People will be looking at us and not through the window. The rest of the devotional: In order to maintain this friendship and loyalty to the Bridegroom, we have to be more careful of our moral and vital relationship to Him than of any other thing, even of obedience. Sometimes there is nothing to obey, the only thing to do is to maintain a vital connection with Jesus Christ, to see that nothing interferes with that. Only occasionally do we have to obey. When a crisis arises we have to find out what God’s will is, but the greater part of the life is not conscious obedience but the maintenance of this relationship – the friend of the Bridegroom. Christian work may be a means of evading the soul’s concentration on Jesus Christ. Instead of being friends of the Bridegroom, we may become amateur providences, and may work against Him whilst we use His weapons. Once again, the underlined sentence is for emphasis. When we pursue holiness we are pursuing knowing what God wants at all times. It will become subconscious. We won't have to stop to pray to ask God what He wants. We can proceed to do what He desires. How do we get to that point? We need to learn about Him through studying the Bible (not just reading it and not by listening to someone else teach it!) and through listening in prayer (not just telling Him what we want). It takes time and it takes great effort on our part. We must "die" so we can become a clear window allowing Him to "live" in us! We are to be members of the Body of Christ. How can we be one body if we are a bunch of individual bodies? We can't! We must be allowing God to take over our body and mind so He can make us whatever part He wants us to be. We all disappear as individuals and people looking at us see Jesus. Are you up for the challenge? |
| Link to 10/29/13 welcome message |
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