I've been doing a lot of reading lately and I've found so many things that are good thoughts from other people. Today I want to post some from Oswald Chambers.
Discipleship is based on devotion to Jesus Christ, not on adherence to a belief or a creed. "If any man come to Me and hate not . . . , he cannot be My disciple." There is no argument and no compulsion, but simply - If you would be My disciple, you must be devoted to Me. A man touched by the Spirit of God suddenly says - "Now I see Who Jesus is," and that is the source of devotion.
To-day we have substituted credal belief for personal belief, and that is why so many are devoted to causes and so few devoted to Jesus Christ. People do not want to be devoted to Jesus, but only to the cause He started. Jesus Christ is a source of deep offence to the educated mind of to-day that does not want Him in any other way than as a Comrade. Our Lord's first obedience was to the will of His Father, not to the needs of men; the saving of men was the natural outcome of His obedience to the Father. If I am devoted to the cause of humanity only, I will soon be exhausted and come to the place where my love will falter; but if I love Jesus Christ personally and passionately, I can serve humanity though men treat me as a door-mat. The secret of a disciple's life is devotion to Jesus Christ, and the characteristic of the life is its unobtrusiveness. It is like a corn of wheat, which falls into the ground and dies, but presently it will spring up and alter the whole landscape (John 12:24).
"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friend." . . . "I have called you friends." John 15:13, 15
Jesus does not ask me to die for Him, but to lay down my life for Him. Peter said - "I will lay down my life for Thy sake" and he meant it; his sense of the heroic was magnificent. It would be a bad thing to be incapable of making such a declaration as Peter made; the sense of our duty is only realized by our sense of the heroic. Has the Lord ever asked you - "Wilt thou lay down thy life for My sake?" It is far easier to die than to lay down the life day in and day out with the sense of the high calling. We are not made for brilliant moments, but we have to walk in the light of them in ordinary ways. There was only one brilliant moment in the life of Jesus, and that was on the Mount of Transfiguration; then He emptied Himself the second time of His glory, and came down into the demon-possessed valley. For thirty-three years Jesus laid out His life to do the will of His Father, and, John says, "we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren." It is contrary to human nature to do it.
If I am a friend of Jesus, I have deliberately and carefully to lay down my life for Him. It is difficult, and thank God it is difficult. Salvation is easy because it cost God so much, but the manifestation of it in my life is difficult. God saves a man and endues him with the Holy Spirit, and then says in effect - "Now work it out, be loyal to Me, whilst the nature of things round about you would make you disloyal." "I have called you friends." Stand loyal to your Friend, and remember that His honour is at stake in your bodily life.
Something I learned from someone else: "Delight yourself in the Lord; and He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust also in Him and He will do it." Psalms. 37:4,5 "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding." Proverbs 3:5 These two Scriptures both talk about trusting God. The Hebrew word for trust means to literally lie on the ground flat on your back. In other words you put yourself in a position where you are totally dependent on something else to hold you up and support you. To trust the Lord means to put myself in a position where I am totally relying on Him to support me and help me and I am leaning on Him, not using one bit of my own strength to accomplish anything. When I trust Him, He takes care of everything including my happiness. This is definitely something I am still working on but I am learning more how to do this day by day.
3 comments:
It was written:
Discipleship is based on devotion to Jesus Christ, not on adherence to a belief or a creed. "If any man come to Me and hate not . . . , he cannot be My disciple."
And hate not? What does this mean?
It was written:
There is no argument and no compulsion, but simply - If you would be My disciple, you must be devoted to Me.
The reasoning here is very simple and plainly stated. But this simplicity and plainness is reflected in nearly every and any situation wherein a disciple seeks a master. First a man must declare himself a master in order for disciples to seek and be devoted to him. To be master one must not only be a master but one must see others as needing a master. The master must see others as lower than he - less knowing, less connected, at loss, bereft of and without (true) knowledge. Thus, a master is geared to teach and he can only teach those who deems are lower than himself. And for those higher than himself or for those who oppose his title of Master the master usually battles against for fear they take away his title.
Opposing the strict very linear reasoning of the above it is always wise to see the irrationality in meeting someone who would come to you and say to you - come be my disciple - be devoted to me. Such words are not uttered in the everyday social situations we find ourselves in or we'd be surrounded by stories like "I was waiting at the bus stop and some guy came up to me and said - "come be my disciple - be devoted to me." Certainly such situations would be highly threatening and quite presumptuous to happen on a daily occurrence, in shops, malls, cafes, and gas stations and/or what have you. These words don't exist in everyday social situations and therefore function more powerfully in non-social situations like history, or myths and legends.
More later,
And hate not . . . It is a portion of a Scripture. It finishes, "and hate not father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea even his own life also." The Scripture is talking about nothing coming between you and Jesus and your love for Jesus is to be so comsuming, so strong that in comparison to your earthly loves is could be viewed as hate. Not that you are to hate your family; but you are to love Jesus more. You are to be devoted to Him.
Indeed, in order to be a disciple one must need a master and the master must see himself as the master and the teacher of those who follow him. If Jesus, the Son of God, is not a Master then who is? If we are not in need of a master then who is? Is is strange or outlandish that Jesus should declare Himself as Master and that we should be in need of His discipline? Are you above Jesus and not in need of His teaching? Do you deem yourself higher than He so as to suppose you are in no need of His lordship? Jesus does not battle anyone. He has already gained His title, His victory. He paid the ultimate price, fought the final battle. The struggle is ours. Will we surrender to Him and Hid authority or will we fight Him for fear of what His Lordship might demand of us. Jesus fears no one for He has conquered all. He said, "All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth." There is nothing that can threaten Jesus or "his title". The threat is to us and what we want for our lives.
Perhaps you find Jesus demands to be irrational in the every day life you lead, but that is exactly where the living out of the discipleship of Christ takes place. There may be no physical person approaching you to request you follow him, but there is a Spirit that tugs on the hearts of those you have been re-born spiritually and draws them to "come follow" Christ. Following Christ in your every day living at the coffee shop, in the mall, at the store, at your job is where Christ is most manifested and is more powerful than any myth or legend. Which is more pertinant and real - the Saviour who lives and abides within you and gives you the ability to do all things, to conquer all things through Him or the legend of a great man who died hundreds or thousands of years ago and has not been heard from since? I would wager that a living Christ that moves and works today is by far more pwerful that a fairytale figure that exists only in the imagination and fancies of a wishful mind.
Indeed, in order to be a disciple one must need a master and the master must see himself as the master and the teacher of those who follow him. If Jesus, the Son of God, is not a Master then who is? If we are not in need of a master then who is? Is it strange or outlandish that Jesus should declare Himself as Master and that we should be in need of His discipline?
Forgive me for my naivety, but I don't ever recall Jesus declaring himself master. Is this a rational, perhaps, modern day interpretation of Jesus life? Other people may certainly have called him master but he, himself, to my knowledge, never did.
I was born and raised Catholic and I remember Jesus said that he is the Son of God and he said that we are all sons and daughters of God. Rationally I assume that this means that since all people are sons or daughters of God then we all live a life equal to Jesus' in God's eyes. I remember that verse but I have no recall of him declaring himself master.
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