Living Life Through Another World

Is living in the world, but not being “of” the world possible?  I believe it is in the sense that the Scriptures use the word “of”.  In the original languages, the case of nouns normally translated with the preposition “of” is typically a possessive form.  Fortunately, “of” has this meaning in much of the English usage as well.  So, not be “of the world” would mean I’m not possessed by the world.  And in that sense I agree with the statement.  Chambers refers to Jesus living in another world rather than living aloof.  I believe that is an important key to a life in but not of this world.

Paul says that our battle is not against flesh and blood and then provides a list of enemies in the spiritual sphere; enemies we can’t see.  It is the awareness of this sphere that helps me live in another world while in this one, or will once I learn better focus on my Master.  The enemies Paul lists exist in the same sphere inhabited by my Master, and He is Master of that sphere too.  I don’t want awareness of the spiritual sphere to be aware of these enemies as much as to be aware of my Master.  It is His reality I am after. 

I referred to emotional problems, or problems that affect me emotionally, as “handles” for my spiritual enemies.  When I hold a grudge, harbor resentment, brood on a hurt, or revisit the feelings of a hurtful event, I am providing a hand hold for my unseen enemies.  They can use those to introduce ideas that are not from my Master.  Distracted by these, my selfish sense of entitlement rises and I have left focus on my Master.  Once there, I am easy prey for my spiritual enemies.  Focused on my Master, these emotional memories become more fodder for my sacrificial pyre, chaff of my life to be burned so He can continue to transform me.

These emotional hurts and hang ups come, but if my response if not awareness of this spiritual sphere my enemies in this sphere can attack me.  Awareness of this sphere enables me to continue focus on my Master putting these things before Him and receive His healing.  I believe this is a sort of spiritual discipline that will become automatic over time, but I have a lot of practicing to do.  I want to be so much in this sphere that it feels weird not to be.  That way I will more readily return to it when I am distracted from it.

What this awareness does is expand what I see around me.  It is no longer rude and obnoxious people (or shop keepers) that oppose me but their tormentors who sense in me their enemy.  When I am aware of this sphere, I respond to the proper enemy rather than their human victim.  How can I truly have a heart for those dead ones apart from my Master without being aware of their oppression which keeps them captive?  If I see them as merely annoying, I am missing the “rest of the story”, as Paul Harvey might describe it.  There’s more going on and I’m only seeing a portion of it.

I know mental and emotional oppression personally.  This should give me an even greater sensitivity to it.  And yet, my fear is not yet suppressed to the point I can be brave in the face of these enemies.  I still look at the wind and waves, and take my eyes off my Master.  I still wonder what it would look like, what people will think, and I succumb to the waves.  The gates of hell cannot keep out the truth of my faith, so why would I fear these enemies?  They are already defeated!  This is my Master’s will, that I engage this world with the awareness of His constant mastery over it all.  It is my connection to Him that enables me to engage.

The freedom I have enjoyed this past year is the path to this awareness.  It is really awareness more of my Master than of the enemies, but it includes them in the sense that I see them as defeated foes.  Seeing my Master more clearly, more consistently I will not fear to engage in life in this world.  Evil will not be my path, but peace and joy, even when surrounded by evil.   It is a righteous life of knowing my Master more.  I can’t think of a higher aspiration or better goal.  And I can’t think of anything else I can do that will affect my neighborhood more.  It’s time to put on my swim trunks and dive into the deep end of the pool!  Cannon Ball!

Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest, November 27

Auto-Spiritual Situational Engagement

John 21 has always seemed a strange account of the post-resurrection time of Jesus.  It clearly gives the impression that Jesus was not constantly with the disciples, but that seems so strange.  Where else would He be?  Yet here they are in Galilee and decide to go fishing.  After a fruitless night Jesus waits for them on the beach, and then helps them with the haul of their lives.  Peter jumps into the water and swims to meet Jesus.  Then there is the awkward breakfast, and then Jesus indicates the manner in which Peter would be killed.  As they walk away, John follows, and Peter asks about him.  Jesus tells Peter to concern himself with his own devotion.

That is where the verses Chambers uses, John 21:21-22 fall in the chapter.  Peter sees the other disciple following, and asks about him.  Jesus says, “If I might want him to remain until I come, what to you?  You follow Me.”  In my devotion to Jesus I’m not supposed to intervene between my Master and His work in others.  There is a difference between intervening and participating.  I’m not confident I understand the difference, but I do know it has something to do with my focus and devotion to my Master.

Chambers then goes on to say that my devotion should be unconscious.  That’s the part I know but fight against.  As I am more devoted to my Master, the rest comes naturally.  My natural tendencies are changed to conform more to His nature, so I will tend to act and respond according to His nature, not my old nature.  I focus on being devoted to my Master, and He will use me in the lives of others.  I don’t know if I trust myself enough for this yet.  On the other hand, I’m not sure that my lack of trust is not an excuse to retain some of my autonomy.  I’m pretty good at excuses, so this could all be an excuse to hide behind false piety; two layer protection.

I know it’s true.  I know that my relationships and other involvement in this world become automatic once my devotion to my Master is settled.  The way I have described it in the past is that I will finally walk in two spheres at once, awareness of the spiritual and the physical simultaneously.  I will be able to see the spiritual side of situations rather than just the annoying physical side.  That would have helped me yesterday when my daughter had an emotional meltdown.  I would have liked to have been able to see the spiritual forces behind that.  It was all I could do to keep myself from exploding.  I did verbally, actually, and I don’t usually…I think.

This is the place where I see growth in the next few months.  I hope to become less stuck on my own circumstances, more focused on my Master, and make it a natural thing to become confused with Him, rather than go to Him once I’m so frustrated I can’t see straight.  When things don’t confuse me, and I’m already focused on my Master, then I can just move and live naturally.  When a crisis presents itself, then I can seek to engage it, participating with my Master’s Spirit, rather than with my own resources and understanding.  Well, I expect another crisis today.  I had three yesterday.  Practice, practice, practice. 

Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest, November 15

Living In Between Crises

The Epistle of Jude is an interesting book in Scripture.  It is reputed to have been written by one of Jesus’ brothers, another son of Mary.  It contains at least two clear references to books of the Hebrew Apocrypha.  And it is addressed to no specific regional audience.

The verse used by Chambers in this entry is the point of Jude where the author turns from discussing those in error to his audience.  He doesn’t exhort them, as much as describe them as, among other things, “building yourselves in your holy faith,” as if they are already doing this.

The central theme that Chambers goes off on is that it takes the work of the Holy Spirit to enable and build up a believer in the daily routines of life; that a believer can use their own personal abilities to survive crises.  I found that an interesting turn of opinion.

I thought Chambers had said before that if I didn’t work on faith in the routine times, that I would be swept away in the times of crisis.  It was the strength and training gained in the barracks that enabled valor and success on the battlefield.  I may have misunderstood that if his position is that the “barracks” life is more difficult to endure than the battle. 

I see what he means though.  Crises don’t come to stay, they come and pass through.  I can last on my own strength of character for a little bit, even when it’s a dramatic event.  It’s in the daily grinding down of my mind and spirit that I cannot survive without my Master and His Spirit resurrecting me.  I can become complacent in routines, but it’s easy to stay focused for short sprints of crisis.  I see what Chambers is getting at, and I do agree with that, to a degree.  And I suspect that he would accept the same degree of disagreement based on earlier entries.

There are crises that threaten the foundations of faith if that faith is based on the results of relating to my Master rather than my Master Himself.  What is done in the daily grinding to reach for my Master and cling to Him enables a building up of a faith that is truly holy.  It’s faith in Him, but it is also faith given freely by Him.  If I have no familiarity with such faith, then some crises can wipe away my “building” as if it were made on and of sand.

There is a way of life termed “management by crisis” where survival is attained or attempted by enabling crises in life.  There are varieties of reasons for doing this, and I have tried it before, and was pretty good at it.  I was lazy and didn’t want to do the work necessary to avoid crises, then thrived in the adulation of others after overcoming it (totally obscuring the fact the crisis was my fault for not planning), and finally biding my time in the spotlight waiting for the next crisis, waiting to shine once more.  Such a life is about me, not about my Master.  It didn’t last long.

Management by crisis requires manageable crises.  Since small crises often compound to form larger ones, the “management” technique eventually collapses.  It hurts when it does, and for me, forced me to grow up a little.  I would always play to my strengths, and avoid my weaknesses.  That plays the game of life by my rules instead of my Master’s.  He lets me, waiting for the inevitable collapse when I humbly return in shame.  I have been fairly successful in the last year playing by His rules, not entirely and not perfectly, but more and more.

Actually, I find that now, many months later (almost a year), it is getting more difficult to maintain that focus on my Master, and I sense myself drifting back toward my old thinking.  This is the point where my Master wants to do the most work.  This is the point where the benefit gained in faith during daily routine life really begins to grow me.  It is here that I am stretched more, even than in crises.

It is my wife and her family that is in crisis.  My older sister and her family is in crisis of a different but related sort.  I am not.  I am in a position to pray for them, bringing their crises before my Master.  I am in a position of relative comfort and ease, the perfect place to seek my Master’s face and focus on Him.  But I don’t.  I do pray from time to time about those in crisis, but I don’t focus on my Master as I should.  I still feel the habit of playing to my strengths gripping my mental patterns.  I have not entirely torn down that mental framework, but it needs to go.  It’s in disrepair, but it’s not gone as it should be.

All this to say that building myself in my holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit are things I want to describe me day in and day out.  Jude used those terms to describe his audience, and I want that to apply to me as well.  I want to be able to help my fellow believers who are sinking into error and despair.  I want to be useful in my Master’s Kingdom in ways that reveal His glory, not my own.  I’m on my way, but I’m not quite there yet.  Like Chambers says, it doesn’t happen in five minutes.

Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest, October 21

Daily Life With my Master

I am challenged at the day-to-day level of living out my faith.  Daily stuff seems well within my ability to manage, so I don’t give much thought to reliance (and therefore submission) to my Master within it.  But that lack shows in my relationships with my daughter, my wife, co-workers, and my community.  They are part of the setting of my daily life, and, in the eyes of my Master, just as vital a part of that setting as I am.

I guess that really gets at the heart of the issue with me.  When I rely on my own abilities and perspectives throughout my day, then I become master of the day-to-day.  I begin to treat people from my own store of love, grace, mercy, and gentleness… Some of you already know how “deep” those stores are.  What I really need is the fruit of my Master’s Spirit to live out those qualities in me throughout my daily routine, every day.  Those qualities are only present in me as my Master stores them up.  They aren’t my stores at all, but His; on deposit as it were.

The idea should be that I am a steward (as a knight and servant should be to his King) of the qualities my Master invests in me.  I don’t rely on my stores of mercy, gentleness, goodness, peace and so on.  And, perhaps more importantly, I don’t develop the expectation that I somehow grow my own reserves of such qualities.  Mine just aren’t the same level quality of personal quality.  I can’t live as if I practice with my Master’s stores so that I can learn to grow my own. 

If I want “the good stuff” in my life, why wouldn’t I continue to rely on His qualities?  Because I desire home-grown control.  I want to be king.  There’s no other reason I would.  And such desire for power is earthly, fleshly, born of fear, and stark rebellion against my Master.  It is also how I currently live out much of my daily life.  So, what do I do?

To an extent, I’m doing something in writing these blog entries.  But I really need more.  I need to practice reaching out to my Master throughout the day.  I need to practice invoking His name as I answer the phone or place a call.  I need to consider my Master’s perspective as I read email and type responses. 

Today, I demonstrate one product line for some of my team mates.  This is an opportunity to reach out to my Master as to encourage my co-workers up against an insurmountable challenge.  It is also an opportunity to show off.  In considering my Master’s perspective, these people are just as important element to the setting of my life as I am.  So, my focus should be on honoring His desire for them, His interest in their lives, His love and grace for them.  He may not be interested in making their lives easy (this is earth not heaven), but He is interested in their lives about Him.  Therein is peace, patience, gentleness, and goodness.  Maybe if those qualities come out through me, they will inquire about where I got them.

My day should be about my Master’s perspective on my daily routine.  There are no heroics in barracks life, but most of my time is there, not in the amazing events of life.  How I live in the barracks will make life on the battlefield better.  Discipline in my daily duties will carry over to discipline on the battlefield.  So what I do today has importance for the rest of my life.  It’s not just another day…well, actually it is, but this ordinary day is a setup for the extraordinary one around the corner.

Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest, October 12

Am I Destined For More Than This? Is The Wrong Question

This has to be an entry made up of a lot more that was said by Chambers.  There has to be some pieces missing.  The initial ideal is the calling to be a holy one.  Then Chambers goes into a vision tested and proven in the crucible of the “valley” experience of yesterday.  His point today is that the vision does not become a reality until going through the valley, and that my Master doesn’t let me avoid it, but hunts me down.

In some sense I like the idea that my Master won’t just let me slink away from a vision He has given me.  On the other hand, I can’t help but wonder about leaving the ministry.  I believe it was the right, or at least necessary, thing; even now.  But now I question that assumption.  Part of what I’m struggling with comes from the context in which Chambers writes.  His is at a school for missionaries and that is his audience.  So he spends a lot of time on ministry-focused calling because that is what is at stake in that place.  So his context continually brings me around to consider my own.

I don’t know that I am called to be a phone-sales person for the rest of my life, but I do know several people who have been at the job I do for a very long time.  I’m not sure I want that or that my Master wants that for me.  But, on the other hand, I’m not sure He doesn’t either.  The situation I am in now does not provide a large degree of vertical movement within the company.  While I’m grateful to the company and my managers for the opportunity to do this, I don’t harbor illusions that I can manage some group remotely; unless it were a group of remote individuals, and we don’t have that yet.

But regardless of opportunities, the reality I need to focus on is the direction my Master has me in now.  Right now He has clearly placed me and my family in this place.  He has made every provision for us here.  So, I know that right now, He wants me to continue in this place doing what I already do.  Since I haven’t been told anything else so far, I will continue on that track.  The vision given so far is to be His holy one right here.  I have a wife and daughter I am to comfort and love, and I have a church in which to minister.  I have stuff to do.

I don’t need more, but if my Master leads to more, I’ll just need to be ready, and listening for His call.  I am content to be His servant in this situation and this set of circumstances.  I am content to wait on Him for whatever else He leads me to.  I will be content to take from His hand without grasping for more control and what I can make.

On the other hand, I don’t want to be that servant who buried his talent of silver.  I know that in what I have been trusted, I need to put it to work.  So, right now I will focus on being a good husband, father, church member, and employee.  I will not loose sight of what I have right here in my daily life looking for the possibility of more.  In this time and place, perhaps the valley of reality that Chambers refers to, I will be faithful to this vision and this calling.

Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest, October 4