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Helovesme2
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Username: Helovesme2

Post Number: 420
Registered: 8-2004


Posted on Wednesday, March 01, 2006 - 10:49 am:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

"By this we believe, . . . Jesus answered, Do ye now believe?" John16:30-31

Now we believe. Jesus says - do you? The time is coming when you will leave Me alone. Many a Christian worker has left Jesus Christ alone and gone into work from a sense of duty, or from a sense of need arising out of his own particular discernment. The reason for this is the absence of the resurrection life of Jesus. the soul has got out of intimate contact with God by leaning to its own religious understanding. There is no sin in it, and no punishment attached to it; but when the soul realizes how he has hindered his understanding of Jesus Christ, and produced for himself perplexities and sorrows and difficulties, it is with shame and contrition he has to come back.

We need to rely on the resurrection life of Jesus much deeper down than we do, to get into the habit of steadily referring everything back to Him; instead of this we make our common-sense decisions and ask God to bless them. He cannot, it is not in His domain, it is severed from reality. If we do a thing from a sense of duty, we are putting up a standard in competition with Jesus Christ. We become a 'superior person,' and say - "Now in this matter I must do this and that." We have put our sense of duty on the throne instead of the resurrection life of Jesus. We are not told to walk in the light of conscience or of a sense of duty, but to walk in the light as God is in the light. When we do anything from a sense of duty, we can back it up by argument; when we do anything in obedience to the Lord, there is no argument possible; that is why a saint can be easily ridiculed.

The Faith I live By, Oswald Chambers, February 28
Colleentinker
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Username: Colleentinker

Post Number: 3471
Registered: 12-2003


Posted on Wednesday, March 01, 2006 - 11:10 am:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Mary, I love this quote. I haven't read it in quite a while, but I remember pondering it. I'm increasingly convinced that Chambers is right. Our sense of duty is "human"; walking "in the light as God is in the light" is what He calls us to do.

This kind of living requires us to give Him, at increasingly deep levels, our dreams, our senses of obligation, our good ideas, and submit to His provision and instruction instead of to our own arguable decisions. I also really understand that last sentence; when we do things from a sense of duty, we can back it up by argument; when we obey the Lord, there is no argument.

I'm learning to question my own motives and heart when I feel I must defend my decisions. When I'm obeying, I usually feel internal resolution instead of defensiveness regarding whatever I'm doing. (This is a steep learning curve for me!)

God really gives us peace and His confidence when we are obedient to Him.

Colleen

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