August 9, 2008

the test of our faithfulness

"It is only a faithful person who truly believes

that God sovereignly controls his circumstances.

We take our circumstances for granted,

saying God is in control,

but not really believing it.

We act as if the things that happen were completely controlled by people.

To be faithful in every circumstance

means that we have only one loyalty,

or object of our faith—

the Lord Jesus Christ.

God may cause our circumstances to suddenly fall apart,

which may bring the realization of our unfaithfulness to Him

for not recognizing that He had ordained the situation.

We never saw what He was trying to accomplish,

and that exact event will never be repeated in our life.

This is where the test of our faithfulness comes.

If we will just learn to worship God

even during the difficult circumstances,

He will change them for the better very quickly

if He so chooses.

Being faithful to Jesus Christ

is the most difficult thing we try to do today.

We will be faithful to our work,

to serving others, or to anything else;

just don’t ask us to be faithful to Jesus Christ.

Many Christians become very impatient

when we talk about faithfulness to Jesus.

Our Lord is dethroned more deliberately by Christian workers

than by the world.

We treat God as if He were a machine

designed only to bless us,

and we think of Jesus as just another one of the workers.

The goal of faithfulness is not that we will do work for God,

but that He will be free to do His work through us.

God calls us to His service

and places tremendous responsibilities on us.

He expects no complaining on our part

and offers no explanation on His part.

God wants to use us as He used His own Son."

- Oswald Chambers

(My Utmost For His Highest)