That Good Part

Oswald Chambers is on a roll...more from "My Utmost For His Highest" . . . the simplicity that is in Christ —2 Corinthians 11:3 Simplicity is the secret to seeing things clearly. A saint does not think clearly until a long time passes, but a saint ought to see clearly without any difficulty. You cannot think through spiritual confusion to make things clear; to make things clear, you must obey. In intellectual matters you can think things out, but in spiritual matters you will only think yourself into further wandering thoughts and more confusion. If there is something in your life upon which God has put His pressure, then obey Him in that matter. Bring all your "arguments and . . . every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ" regarding the matter, and everything will become as clear as daylight to you ( 2 Corinthians 10:5 ). Your reasoning capacity will come later, but reasoning is not how we see. We see like children, and when we try to be wise we see n...

From "My Utmost For His Highest" I have finished the work which You have given Me to do —John 17:4 True surrender is not simply surrender of our external life but surrender of our will— and once that is done, surrender is complete. The greatest crisis we ever face is the surrender of our will. Yet God never forces a person’s will into surrender, and He never begs. He patiently waits until that person willingly yields to Him. And once that battle has been fought, it never needs to be fought again. Surrender for Deliverance. "Come to Me . . . and I will give you rest" ( Matthew 11:28 ). It is only after we have begun to experience what salvation really means that we surrender our will to Jesus for rest. Whatever is causing us a sense of uncertainty is actually a call to our will— "Come to Me." And it is a voluntary coming. Surrender for Devotion. "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself . . . " (Matthew 16:24). The surrender here i...

For by grace you have been saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” Ephesians 2:8, 9. I know that I have saved, justified, by grace through faith, not by works. I could never do enough to be declared righteous and earn a place in God’s favor by my good deeds to others and being a moral person. No human could, that is the whole point of the concept of a savior. If we could save ourselves we wouldn’t need someone’s help, but clearly, we find throughout our lives that we need a savior. I remember the old Saturday Night Live sketch performed by Al Franken, who declared in a mirror “I’m smart enough, I’m good enough, and doggone it, people like me!” When we contemplate even the most basic idea of success in this life, let alone eternal life, we run from the fact that we aren’t smart enough, good enough and who cares if people like us? So we affirm ourselves with positive self talk, we give back in an attempt to undo wh...