My role in God's Glory

Oswald Chambers wrote...

The first thing that happens after we recognize our election by God in Christ Jesus is the destruction of our preconceived ideas, our narrow-minded thinking, and all of our other allegiances— we are turned solely into servants of God’s own purpose. The entire human race was created to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. Sin has diverted the human race onto another course, but it has not altered God’s purpose to the slightest degree. And when we are born again we are brought into the realization of God’s great purpose for the human race, namely, that He created us for Himself. This realization of our election by God is the most joyful on earth, and we must learn to rely on this tremendous creative purpose of God. The first thing God will do is force the interests of the whole world through the channel of our hearts. The love of God, and even His very nature, is introduced into us. And we see the nature of Almighty God purely focused in

John 3:16 — "For God so loved the world. . . ."

We must continually keep our soul open to the fact of God’s creative purpose, and never confuse or cloud it with our own intentions. If we do, God will have to force our intentions aside no matter how much it may hurt. A missionary is created for the purpose of being God’s servant, one in whom God is glorified. Once we realize that it is through the salvation of Jesus Christ that we are made perfectly fit for the purpose of God, we will understand why Jesus Christ is so strict and relentless in His demands. He demands absolute righteousness from His servants, because He has put into them the very nature of God.

Beware lest you forget God’s purpose for your life.

-from My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers

It is pretty arrogant of me to think that I could add anything of any kind of substance to what was said already by Mr. Chambers, but I will try anyway.

As I read through this writing this morning I was struck by the thought that I do not always see my relationship with God in this light - that I exist to bring Him glory. I will say in the last few years this concept has been more on my mind than previous years, but it is still not a prevailing thought when I consider my salvation or my life in Christ.

With that being said, the moments that I have been able to have a frame of mine that have brought a sense of this realization is, as Chambers put it, "the most joyful on earth." In those moments there is an understanding of my standing with God, I hear Him saying to me, "You are my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased." The joy, peace and contentment that this brings to my spirit, heart and mind is indescribable. The unfortunate truth is that I cannot seem to stay in the moment of that realization. There is an element of unbelief and/or pride that seems to creep back in telling me that the Creator of the Universe couldn't possibly esteem me so much.

Could it be true that the Father wants to include me in His plan for Him to be glorified and could He want me to enjoy Him? If I take the time in my devotional reading to notice what He says about what He thinks of me and my role in His Kingdom, then the answer has to be YES! There has been a fear in me that to even think that God would desire me so much would produce a level of pride in me, but I have found the opposite is true, it seems to bring me to level of humility. In fact it is when I think that He couldn't possibly esteem so much that I end up prideful and seem to move in a spirit of self-righteousness. That seems backwards to my way of thinking, yet the economy of God's Kingdom always seems to work backwards of my own logic.

I welcome your thoughts.

Yieding & An Unconcious Influence

I have been making it a habit to read from My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers each morning and I have never found this to be a bad use of the 10 minutes that it takes to do so. Usually what is read I tend to ponder most of that day. So from time to time you may find that I refer to something that I have read, such is the case today. Actually it is something that I read a few days ago, but it has stuck with me.

Chambers wrote:

"The preaching of today tends to point out a person’s strength of will or the beauty of his character— things that are easily noticed. The statement we so often hear, "Make a decision for Jesus Christ," places the emphasis on something our Lord never trusted. He never asks us to decide for Him, but to yield to Him— something very different. At the foundation of Jesus Christ’s kingdom is the genuine loveliness of those who are commonplace. I am truly blessed in my poverty. If I have no strength of will and a nature without worth or excellence, then Jesus says to me, "Blessed are you, because it is through your poverty that you can enter My kingdom." I cannot enter His kingdom by virtue of my goodness— I can only enter it as an absolute pauper.

The true character of the loveliness that speaks for God is always unnoticed by the one possessing that quality. Conscious influence is prideful and unchristian. If I wonder if I am being of any use to God, I instantly lose the beauty and the freshness of the touch of the Lord. "He who believes in Me . . . out of his heart will flow rivers of living water" ( John 7:38 ). And if I examine the outflow, I lose the touch of the Lord."

Two things caught me as I read this, first when Chambers wrote -"He never asks us to decide for Him, but to yield to Him— something very different." This is a very different thought, I am not sure I have looked at it that way before. So it is not about the choice I make, hmmmm this does seem to fly in the face of my Free American Independent Evangelical side.

So it is not about what I choose, instead it is about who I yield to or even who has control, because that is what yielding does, it gives up control. Wow, do I like that? I don't know? I like control it makes me feel like...like...well, like I am in control, I have power, I am in charge. That sounds familiar deoesn't it? In fact that is starting to sound like the problem that Adam and Eve had in the Garden...maybe I should rethink this.

The second thing he wrote that caught me was when he stated, "if I examine the outflow, I lose the touch of the Lord." For me this hits me at the place of my motivations. If I am busy looking at the outflow in my life, then I have missed the whole point. It is not about what comes out of my life, but about the character change the Christ causes to happen as I yield to Him. The moment I begin to notice my value to the Kingdom, I have just stepped out of the character development He has been causing in my life.

I am reminded of the influence that two brothers had on my life in the days before I became a follower of Christ and they never knew. I knew about both of their faiths, they weren't perfect and I hadn't set them on some kind of pedistal in my life, but as the time came for me to consider following Jesus or not, I looked to them as examples of what kind of character work Christ could do in my life. And neither knew what they had done for me in those days before Jesus. In fact one died before I even became a follower. I am so grateful for a lives lived for Him, unassuming and unpretentious, they had an unconcious influence on me. I surely hope one day I can do the same.

What's Up With the Title??

So I was informed (by my wife) that I needed to explain the title of my blog, "Blogging for Cobbler." Well, it is quite simple; I really like cobbler, it is a great dessert. In fact I like it so much that I wrote wrote a poem about it - enjoy while I go look for some cobbler.

Oh Cobbler Where Art Thou?

Walking in the house, the smell fills the air,
I instantly forget about that day’s urgent care.
I find myself drawn to the kitchen door;
The aroma is stronger now than it was before.

My eyes search for the object of my quest,
There on the counter in its cooling rest.
Grabbing bowl and spoon I make my way there,
Hoping no one is around so I won't have to share.

I fill my bowl up to the top
Sadden that its volume limit made me have to stop.
Sinking my spoon in and to my mouth it does turn,
OH CRAP! It is so hot, my tongue it did burn.

Continuing to eat and muffling my screams,
Knowing that my mouth will heal with the help of ice cream
The crust so flakey, the fruit so sweet,
Knowing I am blessed to have such a treat.

My bowl nearly empty now my mind begins to plan,
How I can sneak away and eat the whole pan.
Just then I noticed that I have been seen,
Blowing my plan to get away clean.

Two smiling faces with bowls in their hand,
Each of them wanting some of this cobbler so grand.
Reluctantly I surrender some of this great dessert,
Knowing if my wife catches us, my body she will hurt.

When we finish we wash bowl, face and hands so clean
In hopes that our sin has not been seen.
I smile as we leave without worry or doubt,
Because I will be back for the rest, when the lights go out.

The Size of Faith

Jesus said that, "if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you." (Matt 17:20). If that is the case then I have to admit there are times when my faith must only be able to be seen at the atomic level because it is so small.

This became very clear to me about six months ago. At that time my wife, Kim, and I had been looking into the housing market to try and buy a home. At the same time, I was out of work and looking for a job. I know, I know, it is absolutely crazy to think that we might even qualify for a mortgage when I am not working, and yet somehow we did! So with the help of our Realtor, we were able to find a home that fit our budget and our needs. In fact we were even allowed to move into the home before a mortgage closed.

I remember the day when we decided to move forward on all this. It was very surreal to me, but it hit me, what if we can't close the mortgage, where would we live, I don't have a job - what would we do? And for the first time in my life I had a panic attack. I couldn't breath, I could talk, my heart was racing and I was scared. All could do was sit in my chair in the living room. Meanwhile Kim was beginning the packing process and was busy while all I could do was sit, frozen. The size of my faith at that moment was truly at the subatomic level and I couldn't have moved a feather, let alone a mountain.

After awhile I was able to calm myself down enough to help Kim, but I was still not doing to well. After we had moved in and were waiting for the mortgage to close, I got a call for an interview and then a a day or two later a call for what I thought was a follow up interview. As I drove to the second interview, I decided to follow my wife's example and "Let go and let God." I turned up the local worship station on the radio and sang as loud as I could. I am sure I was a site to behold to my fellow drivers that day. Then a thought hit me, out of no where, I turned down the radio and said, "God You wouldn't give me job on the same day You would have the mortgage close on the house would You?" I laughed, and said "Of course You would, that is just like Your sense of humor in my life!" I then began to laugh out loud. Again, I am sure my fellow motorists thought I was a site.

When I got the second interview, my interviewer was a little late, but soon he showed up and when got settled down in our seats, he said, "Tim we would like to make you a job offer." The smile on my face was hard to keep in control. We went through all the particulars and when I got back to the car I called Kim. I said, "I got good news, I got a job!" She said, "I got good news, the house closed!" I then quizzed her about the time when she found out and it turned out she got the call on the closing at the same time I was getting the job offer.

I sat there for a minute or two after we hung up and thought, "God, You didn't need me at all to do this, did You?" and in that moment I thought I heard Him smile. I thought back through the previous seven months that I spent looking for work and the adventure that we had in buying a home and realized two unmistakable truths about God deeper than I ever had before: 1) God is faithful even when I am without faith and 2) He doesn't need me, but He has chosen to include me in His plans.

So now I am sitting here thinking that if these two things are true about God, then the size of our faith is not as big as deal as I thought it was, in fact I think that is what Jesus was really saying in Matthew 17. It is not the size of my faith that matters, it is the God in whom I place that faith in that matters. If that is true, then that changes everything!