Poured Out

If I am being poured out as a drink offering on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all.

—Philippians 2:17

"It is one thing to follow God’s way of service if you are regarded as a hero, but quite another thing if the road marked out for you by God requires becoming a 'doormat' under other people’s feet."

~Oswald Chambers

You know, this is why I like Oswald Chambers... the man can use a verse of scripture and thirty-eight words to rock my world.

The magic of the Spirit is revealed in so many ways, just one of them in the ability of God-inspired truth to peel back layers and get to the meat of things (Hebrews 4:12-13). This revelation of my own hard heart in repeated waves also illustrates a huge hang-up for so many. I think of my father's tendency to associate uncovered sin with guilt and shame.

We cannot remove guilt and shame from our collection of valid feelings, but we must find a way to associate the uncovering of sin with the glory of cleanliness and spiritual wantonness. Without the magic dividing of the "...joints and marrow..." down to the bone, the heart, of the matter, we so easily lose sight of the reason for our utter dependency and need for a Savior.

May I be extremely happy as a doormat... but, if it could work out that....

I've gotta remove the 'but' from the rest of my prayer. Lord, please help me remove the 'buts' from my life :-)

A War on Holiness

"Morality does not happen by accident; moral virtue is acquired...

...Holiness is the balance between my nature and the law of God as expressed in Jesus Christ."
~Oswald Chambers


The idea of our lives as a battleground is easily related to, but for some reason my mind seems to cling to the chance of Christ's grace removing some of the labor from my life. Contrary to some popular preaching, I need to remember I grow closer to Christ and holiness through my willingness to apply labor.

Having Christ doesn't mean an end to striving, groaning, and scratching to survive in this world. I can be assured, however that my efforts in Christ have guaranteed fruitfulness. In pursuit of Christ, my groaning can instantly become a labor of love fostered out of respect, adoration, and a desire to be a living sacrifice... May it be.

Questions...

List five contemporary activities that would be comparable to foot washing

"...Jesus answered, "Unless I wash you, you have no part with me." ~John 13:8

"I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him." ~John 13: 15 - 16


When I think of foot washing and especially of the way our Lord used the ceremony to summarize His entire ministry, I am in awe of the person who is and was Jesus Christ as man. Christ used the washing at the end of His physical time with the disciples--men whom our Lord poured Himself into; teaching, chastising, forming and mentoring the men into s founders of Christianity. All my thoughts seem so small and petty in comparison with such a poignant representation of the Savior's life. Even so, times when our greatest leaders place themselves as true servants of their respective flocks.

• A CEO who stops in the parking lot to help an employee change a flat tire
• A husband or wife who spends his/her last years on Earth feeding, changing diapers for, and bathing his/her spouse
• A person who gives up a great job/opportunity to spend time with his/her child(ren)

I must say I'm having difficulty escaping the thought of how small these are compared to the example. Some days its difficult to escape the analytical side of me, and today nothing quite measures up...

Creative Tension and other Marital Traits

My wife and I launched into another discussion destined to end with a mutual understanding of the impossibility of empathetic understanding between males and females. I was particularly intrigued by the direction of thought. Both my wife and I married later in life, and as such, both participated in intense relationships prior to our marriage. Neither she nor I would have qualified as a "typical" romantic interest of the other, but having been married five years, we can decidedly say the Lord orchestrates relationships with much more substance than we would left to our own.

The conversation continued on, covering many of the same topics usually rehashed during the progression to realness following a drought of meaningful dialogue. Conversation turned to sources of passion within a relationship and the Lord triggered a thought in my egg-shaped head. If our passions are fueled by longings for the material happiness so tantalizingly presented by Hollywood, we are destined to limit our true understanding of passion. Falling into the trap of defining needs, wants and success by the boundaries of a fallen society will always leave us wanting more and doubting our abilities.

If I want for passion in my marriage, I must introspectively determine where I am getting my definition of passion. I'll go out on a limb and state my confidence in the following idea:

A couple living life sold-out, all in, unashamedly chasing Christ as the centerpiece of their marriage will never want for passion--not a fleshly passion, but the kind of passion that draws us out of ourselves, into the comfort and exhilaration of living a life outside of our control. Seems like real passion comes from living a life constantly chafing against the grain of society, definitions of success, and humanistic expectations so frequently used as points of reference. There is nothing like societal rejection to bring two lonely souls together with a shared common bond. Fortunately, Christ shared this same rejection.

Find passion fueled by recognition and hatred of the selfish fires driving society toward destruction, but long for the eternal company of the souls destined for destruction. What a splendid dichotomy to have modeled out in the life of our Savior. No wonder people listened to him...

Fearing Transition

"If you stayed home when God told you to go because you were so concerned about your own people there, then you actually robbed them of the teaching of Jesus Christ Himself."
~Oswald Chambers

As Christians, many of us walk through life constantly worried we are missing the mark. My biggest fear is to look back from Heaven at the end of my time and cry in recognition of opportunities wasted from allegiance to my human intellect. Intuitively, I know my flesh prevents opportunities ranging from people I should have met, to places and situations I should have stepped away from.

So often, I am making excuses against transition because I am not prepared to trust that God can fill in the gaps... How many times have I said to myself, "Lord, I can't leave right now... these people need me to finish this..." How much credit am I giving the Creator of the universe when I ask Him to hold off on His plans until I'm good and ready. My pride amazes me every time I get a new look at it.

What will it take for me to regain the ability to step out on faith--and take my family with me? In my heart I know I'm giving entirely too much human consideration to my decision making process. Follow me. Is it really that simple?