36 Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.” John 18:36 ESV
The great enemy to the Lord Jesus Christ in the present day is the conception of practical work that has not come from the New Testament, but from the Systems of the world in which endless energy and activities are insisted upon, but no private life with God. The emphasis is put on the wrong thing. Jesus said, “The kingdom of God cometh not with observation;…for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you,” a hidden, obscure thing. An active Christian worker too often lives in the shop window. It is the innermost of the innermost that reveals the power of the life.
We have to get rid of the plague of the spirit of the religious age in which we live. In Our Lord’s life there was none of the press and rush of tremendous activity that we regard so highly, and the disciple is to be as His Master. The central thing about the kingdom of Jesus Christ is a personal relationship to Himself, not public usefulness to men. It is not its practical activities that are the strength of this Bible Training College, its whole strength lies in the fact that here you are put into soak before God. You have no idea of where God is going to engineer your circumstances, no knowledge of what strain is going to be put on you either at home or abroad, and if you waste your time in over-active energies instead of getting into soak on the great fundamental truths of God’s Redemption, you will snap when the strain comes; but if this time of soaking before God is being spent in getting rooted and grounded in God on the un-practical line, you will remain true to Him whatever happens.
My Utmost for His Highest. Chambers, Oswald
I was lucky to have fond memories of visits to by my sets of grandparents. They were reminiscent of the old city mouse v country mouse story. My paternal grandparents lived in Lockwood, a small Missouri town of barely 800 inhabitants, while the other set lived in Springfield, MO which, at that time, had a population of over 120,000. I could enumerate on the differences for several paragraphs, but today's passage from Chambers bring one memory to mind. At Lockwood the nightly cleansing process involved climbing into the world's smallest shower that my grandfather had installed himself. However, cleanliness at Springfield was achieved by climbing to a 5' long bathtub, complete with stopper hanging from a beaded chain attached to the faucet.
I had not thought of the contract between the two until this morning. The shower was built for speed. Let the water head up, dash in, soap down, rinse, and reappear dripping, but clean. The term, "take a quick shower" made sense. But take a "quick" bath. That is an oxymoron. Wait for the hot water to flow. Stop the tub. Allow the tub to fill. Climb in. Use a cup to wash you hair. Then soap down the rest. Splash water up or dunk down to rinse. After drying off you have to wait for the tub to drain so you could rinse the tub before leaving the bathroom.
Lately my time with God has been more reminiscent of a shower than a soak in the tub. Jump in, soap down, rinse off, towel dry, then head out for the day. How marked a contrast from a bath. There has been no soaking. No sitting and pondering. No soaking in His word. No resting in His presence.
Showers are about activity, speed. Baths allow you to soak, relax, reflect. Time with God should be a resemble a long, hot bath, not a get-it-done-and-move-on shower.
The great enemy to the Lord Jesus Christ in the present day is the conception of practical work that has not come from the New Testament, but from the Systems of the world in which endless energy and activities are insisted upon, but no private life with God. The emphasis is put on the wrong thing. Jesus said, “The kingdom of God cometh not with observation;…for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you,” a hidden, obscure thing. An active Christian worker too often lives in the shop window. It is the innermost of the innermost that reveals the power of the life.
We have to get rid of the plague of the spirit of the religious age in which we live. In Our Lord’s life there was none of the press and rush of tremendous activity that we regard so highly, and the disciple is to be as His Master. The central thing about the kingdom of Jesus Christ is a personal relationship to Himself, not public usefulness to men. It is not its practical activities that are the strength of this Bible Training College, its whole strength lies in the fact that here you are put into soak before God. You have no idea of where God is going to engineer your circumstances, no knowledge of what strain is going to be put on you either at home or abroad, and if you waste your time in over-active energies instead of getting into soak on the great fundamental truths of God’s Redemption, you will snap when the strain comes; but if this time of soaking before God is being spent in getting rooted and grounded in God on the un-practical line, you will remain true to Him whatever happens.
My Utmost for His Highest. Chambers, Oswald
I was lucky to have fond memories of visits to by my sets of grandparents. They were reminiscent of the old city mouse v country mouse story. My paternal grandparents lived in Lockwood, a small Missouri town of barely 800 inhabitants, while the other set lived in Springfield, MO which, at that time, had a population of over 120,000. I could enumerate on the differences for several paragraphs, but today's passage from Chambers bring one memory to mind. At Lockwood the nightly cleansing process involved climbing into the world's smallest shower that my grandfather had installed himself. However, cleanliness at Springfield was achieved by climbing to a 5' long bathtub, complete with stopper hanging from a beaded chain attached to the faucet.
I had not thought of the contract between the two until this morning. The shower was built for speed. Let the water head up, dash in, soap down, rinse, and reappear dripping, but clean. The term, "take a quick shower" made sense. But take a "quick" bath. That is an oxymoron. Wait for the hot water to flow. Stop the tub. Allow the tub to fill. Climb in. Use a cup to wash you hair. Then soap down the rest. Splash water up or dunk down to rinse. After drying off you have to wait for the tub to drain so you could rinse the tub before leaving the bathroom.
Lately my time with God has been more reminiscent of a shower than a soak in the tub. Jump in, soap down, rinse off, towel dry, then head out for the day. How marked a contrast from a bath. There has been no soaking. No sitting and pondering. No soaking in His word. No resting in His presence.
Showers are about activity, speed. Baths allow you to soak, relax, reflect. Time with God should be a resemble a long, hot bath, not a get-it-done-and-move-on shower.
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