Oswald Chambers, whose teachings were compiled into the well-known devotional My Utmost for His Highest, candidly described his departure from the Christian game:
“I was doing Christian work and winning souls for Christ,” he wrote, “but I had no conscious communion with Him. The Bible was the dullest, most uninteresting book in existence. I knew that if what I had was all the Christianity there was, the whole thing was a fraud.” During a Christian gathering, he stood up and admitted before the group that he was in desperate need of a true encounter with the King of all kings. He finally came to grips with the fact that all of his Christian training, spiritual leadership, and religious activities did not amount to a passionate relationship with Jesus Christ. He had to come to the end of himself, recognize his own inability to make true Christianity work, and begin his pursuit of something more. In order to experience a God-scripted life, we, like Oswald Chambers, must put aside our spiritual pretense. We must come face to face with our desperate need for something more. We must choose not to settle for the apathy of the Christian game. Self-built, imitation versions of Christianity cannot replace a passionate relationship with the King. If you are ready to begin your pursuit into God’s endless frontier, take some time to ask yourself these soul-searching questions:
When it comes to knowing Christ, are there areas where I have pitched my tent? Have I bought into an imitation version of following God? Have I settled for admitting that I have problems but not believing that God can grant me victory over my problems? Have I been taking sin lightly and letting selfishness, rather than righteousness, rule my life? Have I reduced God’s expectations for my life to a set of reasonable guidelines I can easily accomplish on my own?
Be completely honest as you ask yourself these piercing questions. Don’t compare your life to Christians around you. Let Jesus Christ be your only standard. And as God begins to show you areas of your spiritual life that are off-track, put them in writing and make a commitment to shift from settler to pioneer in those areas.
When we are willing to acknowledge the shallow emptiness of our self-made spiritual lives and ask God to carry us into the endless frontier of knowing Him, we open the door to a journey of discovery beyond anything we have ever dreamed. And once we embark on the pioneer’s journey, we realize that the adventure has only just begun.
Confession time. Although I've been doing Christian responsibilities all year long in Jacksonville, there were many times where I was operating under my own strength and not looking to the Lord for his leading and power. I try too often to control the outcome of my life's situations and don't have a faith big enough to trust God to do some pretty amazing things outside of my power and control. As I raise support this summer and hopefully reconnect with many people I've neglected, I've noticed that I get worn out super easily and I'm quickly distracted from completing my daily tasks. I'm convinced that these distractions are the devil's way of keeping me from declaring the many good things God has done this past school year for the kids in Brentwood as well as for myself. Christian "tasks" do not translate into a relationship with God and I've realized my own spiritually poverty and humanity in my own life. I hope you took some time to answer Oswald Chambers' questions in bold print. If you kind of just read over them without reading them, please take the time to seriously consider and pinpoint the areas in your life that distract you, mesmerize you, lie to you into thinking that you are alright when in fact your relationship with God is suffering. God is so much more perfect and powerful and holy than any of us are so there is always some word/thought/deed that needs sanctifying. Please pray to God to reveal those things.
Here's the latest 2nd Mile Ministries update video. New leadership and spring break teamwork are the focus. Be blessed!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgTu1q_JRas
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