So whenever I can't figure out what to read for devotions, I always turn to Oswald Chamber's "My Utmost for His Highest." And it was this I was reading tonight and wanted to share. (My apologies to those who read this blog to actually know what I'm doing during the day. Today was work, tomorrow more of the same.)
It derives from John 4:14 "but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."
To this Chamber's writes (in the September 7th entry):
"Never look at yourself from the standpoint of - Who am I? In the history of God's work you will nearly always find that it has started from the obscure, the unknown, the ignored, but the steadfastly true to Jesus Christ."
This is quite a different message than we get from society - in searching for yourself, serving your own needs, finding yourself...etc. At the end of the day we are all lost, none of us know where we are. God is not lost. By turning in God's direction and becoming like God can we ever really know "ourselves" as the extension of God's love for us and using us as vessels to pour out that love to each other. Over and over and over again.
And I think in my own personal search "for myself" this has been the one constant that has ever brought any reality. Namely the smallness and slightness of myself in the light of God's greatness, goodness, loveliness, trueness. And then knowing myself to be part of Godself through Christ's death and resurrection on the cross, which I now know as my own.
That's true living.
(writers note: this is my first draft and most likely my own one. Additionally, I feel that using the pronoun "Him" for God is slightly limiting to the vastness of who God is, however also using "They" or "She" can be limiting as well. Thus the redundancy of using God's name. any advice on how to write about the Indescribable is welcome)
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1 comment:
great entry. love that book.
as you might have noticed from my own writing, I find it pleasing and true to simply capitalize the aspect of God I am referring to. so your sentence: "Namely the smallness and slightness of myself in the light of God's greatness, goodness, loveliness, trueness." would become "Namely the smallness and slightness of myself in the light of Greatness, Goodness, Loveliness, and Trueness." (maybe this isn't the best example, but I think you get what I'm saying).
I feel that using the qualities of God is more effective than using a name, which can have negative connotation for some and, as you mentioned, can be quite limiting.
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