I am reading David McCasland's biography of Oswald Chambers, Abandoned to God: the Life Story of the Author of My Utmost for His Highest. I think Oswald's personal story offers some insight into today's reading and Oswald's assertion that when we obey God it is going to cost other people dearly.
McCasland includes a letter from Oswald to his father in which Oswald answers his father's plea to get a paying job. Here is an excerpt: "You say can I not earn money somewhere and someway else so that I can help my Mother and sisters to say nothing of you? I could at the expense of greater usefulness. What is money help to you and mother and my sisters compared to the eternal assistance I am certainly enabled to give here to souls. I dare to say, in Heaven, you will thank God for the life so few of you deem more than mere foolishness."
Another example might be seen in Oswald's decision to break off a long-term relationship: "The decision came from Oswald as a cross-bearing sacrifice he felt compelled to make in order to follow Christ completely." However, the author writes of this sacrifice as costing Oswald quite as much as the woman, Chrissie.
Oswald considers it a matter of pride that we do not want our obedience to cost anyone else, and he states that we cannot expect our situation to be different from Christ's. He refers to a passage in Luke where Jesus and the disciples are described as traveling from one town and village to another, and "these women were helping to support them out of their own means."
I see Oswald's point. My only caveat (and it's actually a fairly big one) is this: We better be sure that our costly actions truly are obedience. In the primary passage attached to today's lesson, Jesus is on his way to the crucifixion, and the related cost to another is that the cross is given to Simon of Cyrene to bear. Clearly, the cost proceeds from Christ's obedience. In my life, however, I seldom find the lines so clearly drawn. I think I am called to write. If that writing does not produce an income and my husband must bear the complete weight of providing for our family, can I be sure that his burden results from my obedience? Or, if I sit at the computer for hours -- struggling to digest a concept and relate it -- can I be sure that the cost to my family by way of neglected household duties is a result of my obedience?
As is often the case, Oswald's black-and-white lines seem rather blurry to me.
Barbara
Hi Barbara, I stumbled upon your blog while searching for more insight on today's devotional. At first I was a little surprised when I came across your post and that it was written today, but then I remembered that the devotionals are written for each day so it makes sense. ;) I just started reading the book myself (the updated edition), and was somewhat troubled by today's devotional.
ReplyDeleteI was really intrigued when I finally came across your site and the insights you provided into Chambers' life, especially the relationship he broke off. Not to be too personal, but I am still struggling from a breakup with a godly brother in Christ from last January, especially now that he is dating one of my best friends, who is in ministry as her vocation. When he ended the relationship with me, he stated that he felt God was leading him to stop pursuing me. A few months later, when he told me that he was going to pursue my friend, he said he was trying to be very careful about it and pray for God's direction since he knew it would be very complicated.
It has been about two months since then, and I have struggled with the question, "Is it worth intentionally hurting other people in order to get what you want?" This is not what I would ever have wanted to do to someone else. However, I know that he truly believes he is obeying God by pursuing my friend, who slowly became receptive to his efforts, and I know he trusts that God will take care of the consequences (namely my loss of two friends I love and care deeply about). Today's devotional was hard to accept in the context of my situation, but if that's the truth, I must accept it.
As a result, I can really relate to the last paragraph you wrote in your post in which you write that you "seldom find the lines so clearly drawn" in your own life. I just wanted to encourage you to have faith and keep writing, for this is the gift God has given you, but it's not meant to be an easy road.
Blessings to you in your journey through this book!