Love/Hate

Sometimes I feel I have a love/hate response to Oswald Chamber's classic, My Utmost For His Highest. I can't figure him out. He'll say something I wholeheartedly agree with and the next day almost make me mad with frustration! Which view is right? His? Mine? Neither?

Probably his, but I still question and wrestle with it, trying to make sense of it, trying to make sense of it in my perspective so I'm not forced to change my view. I like my comfortable view; I don't want to change!

A few days ago I finished Yancey's The Jesus I Never Knew. I enjoyed that book, especially his chapter on the Sermon On the Mount. It made sense. Challenging, but it made sense.

Today I finished reading July 21st's reading in My Utmost for His Highest. I had to look it up online because I misplaced my book. (because I am routinely frustrated by this book, there are days I skip reading it but I always go back and read it) Today's reading was thought provoking. I want to quote the whole thing, and I think I will:


"Beware of thinking of our Lord as only a teacher. If Jesus Christ is only a teacher, then all He can do is frustrate me by setting a standard before me I cannot attain. What is the point of presenting me with such a lofty ideal if I cannot possibly come close to reaching it? I would be happier if I never knew it. What good is there in telling me to be what I can never be— to be “pure in heart” ( Matthew 5:8 ), to do more than my duty, or to be completely devoted to God? I must know Jesus Christ as my Savior before His teaching has any meaning for me other than that of a lofty ideal which only leads to despair. But when I am born again by the Spirit of God, I know that Jesus Christ did not come only to teach— He came to make me what He teaches I should be. The redemption means that Jesus Christ can place within anyone the same nature that ruled His own life, and all the standards God gives us are based on that nature.

The teaching of the Sermon on the Mount produces a sense of despair in the natural man— exactly what Jesus means for it to do. As long as we have some self-righteous idea that we can carry out our Lord’s teaching, God will allow us to continue until we expose our own ignorance by stumbling over some obstacle in our way. Only then are we willing to come to Him as paupers and receive from Him. “Blessed are the poor in spirit . . . .” This is the first principle in the kingdom of God. The underlying foundation of Jesus Christ’s kingdom is poverty, not possessions; not making decisions for Jesus, but having such a sense of absolute futility that we finally admit, “Lord, I cannot even begin to do it.” Then Jesus says, “Blessed are you . . .” ( Matthew 5:11 ). This is the doorway to the kingdom, and yet it takes us so long to believe that we are actually poor! The knowledge of our own poverty is what brings us to the proper place where Jesus Christ accomplishes His work."

- My Utmost for His Highest, Oswald Chambers July 21st

Does any part(s) stick out for you?