I REALLY love today's "My Utmost For His Highest" by Oswald Chambers!
Sacred Service
I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my
flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ… Colossians 1:24
The Christian worker has to be a sacred “go-between.” He
must be so closely identified with his Lord and the reality of His redemption
that Christ can continually bring His creating life through him. I am not
referring to the strength of one individual’s personality being superimposed on
another, but the real presence of Christ coming through every aspect of the
worker’s life. When we preach the historical facts of the life and death of our
Lord as they are conveyed in the New Testament, our words are made sacred. God
uses these words, on the basis of His redemption, to create something in those
who listen which otherwise could never have been created. If we simply preach
the effects of redemption in the human life instead of the revealed, divine
truth regarding Jesus Himself, the result is not new birth in those who listen.
The result is a refined religious lifestyle, and the Spirit of God cannot witness
to it because such preaching is in a realm other than His. We must make sure
that we are living in such harmony with God that as we proclaim His truth He
can create in others those things which He alone can do.
When we say, “What a wonderful personality, what a
fascinating person, and what wonderful insight!” then what opportunity does the
gospel of God have through all of that? It cannot get through, because the
attraction is to the messenger and not the message. If a person attracts
through his personality, that becomes his appeal. If, however, he is identified
with the Lord Himself, then the appeal becomes what Jesus Christ can do. The
danger is to glory in men, yet Jesus says we are to lift up only Him (see John
12:32).
The powerful Christian life is NOT a religious show, but a close and intimate relationship with the One, True God! When we have been born again by the Spirit of God, then HE lives IN us! HE is who people 'see' when they come in contact with us. SO, just continue, every day, to spend time in HIS presence and to get to know HIM better! People will take note of you, that YOU 'have been with JESUS'! AMEN! Here is Hillsong with "Children of the Light":Shalom in Him!
