“Am I My Brother’s Keeper?”
2/15/2015
None of us lives to himself… —Romans 14:7
Has it ever dawned on you that you are responsible spiritually to God for other people? For instance, if I allow any turning away from God in my private life, everyone around me suffers. We “sit together in the heavenly places…” (Ephesians 2:6). “If one member suffers, all the members suffer with it…” (1 Corinthians 12:26). If you allow physical selfishness, mental carelessness, moral insensitivity, or spiritual weakness, everyone in contact with you will suffer. But you ask, “Who is sufficient to be able to live up to such a lofty standard?” “Our sufficiency is from God…” and God alone (2 Corinthians 3:5).
“You shall be witnesses to Me…” (Acts 1:8). How many of us are willing to spend every bit of our nervous, mental, moral, and spiritual energy for Jesus Christ? That is what God means when He uses the word witness. But it takes time, so be patient with yourself. Why has God left us on the earth? Is it simply to be saved and sanctified? No, it is to be at work in service to Him. Am I willing to be broken bread and poured-out wine for Him? Am I willing to be of no value to this age or this life except for one purpose and one alone— to be used to disciple men and women to the Lord Jesus Christ. My life of service to God is the way I say “thank you” to Him for His inexpressibly wonderful salvation. Remember, it is quite possible for God to set any of us aside if we refuse to be of service to Him— “…lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified” (1 Corinthians 9:27).
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| Oswald Chambers c. 1905 |
...and I will attempt to emulate G_d as "keeper" in this regard. ;)
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteI can make an exception, in your case, Foxy.
DeleteSorry, Thersites, but I will not permit trolls to remain here under any circumstances.
DeleteWhenever I see that some pathetic clown has tried to use this place as a toilet, I immediately HOSE the place down, and then FLUSH their malodorous droppings away ASAP.
And now I must ask myself if my utter intolerance of trolls and goons makes me spiritually deficient? Should I be more patient? Should I be more tolerant? Should I try to be kind?
ReplyDeleteThe Bible clearly tells us not to cast our pearls before swine, so perhaps it's all right to feel as I do. I'm not sure.But I do know i's impossible to try to reason with wild beasts. The same, Alas! seems to be true for barbarians.
To be an honest critic, it's a kind of mixed up inspiration, and only holds together if the citations are misinterpreted a bit. I think Chambers was a little nutty. Ironically, it serves as this immensely popular, beautiful humanistic devotional, yet it's purely thoroughly crazy Baptist nonsense. Fun, though!
ReplyDeleteJMJ
I am my brother's keeper and it takes a village to raise a child; parallel mindsets.
ReplyDeleteSome folks would day no, others yes. As for me? Not sure, a perplexing thought.