Whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two. —Matthew 5:41
“Our Lord’s teaching can be summed up in this: the relationship
that He demands for us is an impossible one unless He has done a supernatural
work in us. […] No amount of enthusiasm will ever stand up to the strain that
Jesus Christ will put upon His servant. Only one thing will bear the strain,
and that is a personal relationship with Jesus Christ Himself— a relationship
that has been examined, purified, and tested until only one purpose remains and
I can truly say, ‘I am here for God to send me where He will.’ […] God does not
ask us to do the things that are naturally easy for us— He only asks us to do
the things that we are perfectly fit to do through His grace, and that is where
the cross we must bear will always come.” – Oswald Chambers, My Utmost For His
Highest
Many of Chamber’s devotions were derived from his lectures at a
Bible College. He was speaking to men
and women who had been called by God to service beyond what most of us are
called to after our conversion. But, the
principles are the same. Even the person
with only one spiritual gift, and that, they consider to be almost
non-essential (God does not agree with them by the way) faces the same
challenges that every other saint faces in living their new life.
“But now indeed there are many members, yet one body. And the
eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I have no need of you’; nor again the head to the
feet, ‘I have no need of you.’ No, much rather, those members of the body which
seem to be weaker are necessary. And those members of the body which we think
to be less honorable, on these we bestow greater honor; and our unpresentable
parts have greater modesty, but our presentable parts have no need. But God
composed the body, having given greater honor to that part which lacks it, that
there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the
same care for one another.” – 1 Corinthians 12:20-25
We are all called to abandon the same things, even though for most
it will be an abandonment in the heart, while with a few, it will require
physical abandonment. It is one thing to
say that you love God more than your family, it is quite another to leave your
family and go on Mission for God. It is
one thing to say that you do not love the things of this world, it is quite
another to sell your house and put your retirement at risk in order to go where
God has said “Go!”. At the same time – it is one thing to say I will abandon my
devotion for worldly things in favor of the heavenly and quite another to actually
do it when faced with a choice to embrace the world or your faith.
I would find it very difficult to write these things to you if I
had no intention of doing them myself.
When I was on staff with Promise Keepers in the ‘90s, there was a saying
that was popular among us. “You can’t
teach what you don’t know, you can’t lead where you won’t go, and you can only
recreate what you are.” The secret to
going is obedience and faith. Faith
comes from God and obedience comes from a “broken and contrite heart”, wholly
submitted to the will of God. Every step
you take for God requires the power of God.
It is a glorious life .. living by faith and not by sight. The person who abandons the things of this
world in the heart is no less faithful than the one who abandons physically in
response to the call of God. The point
is being obedient to God no matter what He calls you to do and where He calls
you to do it. So when the Spirit
whispers in your ear, “This is the way walk in it.” (Isaiah 30:21) Walk on! … to the glory of God
and in testimony to a world that needs Jesus.
Believe it – walk in it. Let your light shine and give God the
glory.
By Faith Alone By His Grace Alone And For His Glory Alone
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