I wonder what Oswald Chambers and Mike Yaconelli would think of each other? Perhaps they are great pals in heaven. Who knows. But I have trouble reconciling the blatant, honest transparency of Yaconelli, with which my soul so identifies, with Oswald's unbending call to righteousness. Can both be true? Can both be profitable? Can the two men coincide side-by-side in my mind as teachers of the truth?
Oswald: "Thank God it is gloriously and majestically true that the Holy Ghost can work in us the very nature of Jesus if we obey Him."
Yaconelli: "Messy Spirituality unveils the myth of flawlessness and calls Christians everywhere to come out of hiding and stop pretending."
The "very nature of Jesus" vs. "the myth of flawlessness."
Oswald: "His resurrection means for us that we are raised to His risen life, not our old life."
Yaconelli: "Messy Spirituality is the scandalous assertion that following Christ is anything but tidy and neat, balanced and orderly. Far from it. Spirituality is complex, complicated, and perplexing -- the disorderly, sloppy, chaotic look of authentic faith in the real world."
"His risen life" vs. "disorderly, sloppy and chaotic."
Oswald: "We can know now the efficacy of His resurrection and walk in newness of life."
Yaconelli: "Spirituality is anything but a straight line; it is a mixed-up, topsy-turvy, helter-skelter godliness that turns our lives into an upside-down toboggan ride full of unexpected turns, surprise bumps, and bone-shattering crashes."
"Newness of life" vs. "helter-skelter godliness."
I don't know. Perhaps it can all be chalked up to the separation of generations. Oswald died in 1917. Yaconelli died in 2003. A world of change separates them. Or perhaps Oswald was speaking in ideal terms while Yaconelli was writing pragmatically. One makes me feel guilty more often than not. The other screams freedom and causes some tired thing within me to perk up its ears.
I don't know, but I honestly believe the words of both men have merit. I will continue the walk with Oswald, but I will let Yaconelli whisper words of encouragement in my ear.
So often as Christians we think of having the nature of Christ as things we do outwardly, such as going to church, praying out loud in a group, saying the right things, speaking in tongues or tithing. The truth is, the nature of Christ is an inward thing. It is a matter of the heart. When the heart is where it should be, the outward things happen on there own. It is my belief that Christians who fall into scandalous sin do so because they depended on outward deeds to define the nature of Christ, instead of working on internal attitudes. When big temptation comes along, if the nature of Christ has not changed our hearts we fail. This is what I think Yaconelli is writing about when he calls Christians to come out of the dark and stop pretending to be flawless. Appearances do not make a difference when God calls us to do the right thing with the stuff that matters, and I think that to often we are confused about what matters. When Oswald calls us to righteousness I think he is talking about righteousness of the heart, not righteousness of appearance. So for me, Oswald and Yaconelli are on the same page.
ReplyDeleteAwesome. Great points, Dawn. Thanks.
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