“The Moral Foundations of Life” (Ciii.) {Friday, October 4th} A Series of Talks on the Ethical Principles of the Christian Life by Oswald Chambers Education in Holy Habit Psalms 86:11 11 Teach me thy way, O LORD; I will walk in thy truth: unite my heart to fear thy name. [2] Psalms 143:10 10 Teach me to do thy will; for thou art my God: thy spirit is good; lead me into the land of uprightness.[3] The Habit of Reliable Judgment (Psalm 143:10) Teach me to do Thy will. Our conscience may be right towards God, and yet we may err in judgment. When the disposition has been perfectly adjusted towards God, it does not mean we have a perfectly adjusted body and brain; we have the same body and brain as before and we have to bring them into line until we form the judgment that is according to Jesus Christ. Many of us are impulsive spiritually and we live to be sorry for it. We have to form the habit of reliable judgment. God never gives us reliable judgment; He gives us a disposition which leads to a perfect judgment if we will work out that disposition. (a) The Disciplined Imagination (2 Corinthians 10:5) We have to practise the submitting of our intelligence to Jesus Christ in His word. The imagination of a saint too often is vague and intractable. We have to learn to bring every thought and imagination into captivity to the obedience of Christ. An undisciplined imagination will destroy reliable judgment more quickly even than sin. Mental and spiritual insubordination is the mark of to-day. Jesus Christ submitted His intelligence to His Father. Do I submit my intelligence to Jesus Christ and His word? (b) The Illuminated Judgment (1 Corinthians 4:5) We have to learn to see things from Jesus Christ’s standpoint. Our judgment is warped in every particular in which we do not allow it to be illuminated by Jesus Christ. For instance, if we listen to what our Lord says about money we shall see how we disbelieve Him. We quietly ignore all He says, He is so unpractical, so utterly stupid from the modern standpoint. “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”† Which one of us believes that? If we are the children of God He will bring us into circumstances where we will be tested on every line to see whether we will form the habit of reliable judgment. We have to learn to see things from Jesus Christ’s standpoint. He says, “All power is given unto Me. . . .” The illumination of judgment comes personally when we recognise that the evil and wrong in our sphere of life is there not by accident, but in order that the power of God may come in contact with it as His power has come into us. When we come into contact with objectionable people the first natural impulse of the heart is to ask God to save them because they are a trial to us; He will never do it for that reason. But when we come to see those lives from Jesus Christ’s standpoint and realise that He loves them as He loves us, we have a different relation ship to them, and God can have His way in their lives in answer to our prayer. (c) The Resourcefulness of Tact (1 Corinthians 9:19-23) It is instructive to notice the way our Lord dealt with different people. In every case where He did not find bigotry He won them straight away. When we first become rightly related to God we have the idea that we have to talk to everyone, until we get one or two well deserved snubs; then our Lord takes us aside and teaches us His way of dealing with them. How impatient we are in dealing with others! Our attitude implies that we think God is asleep. When we begin to reason and work in God’s way, He reminds us first of all how long it took Him to get us where we are, and we realise His amazing patience and we learn to come on other lives from above. As we learn to rely on the Spirit of God He gives us the resourcefulness of Jesus. TOMORROW: The Habit of a Rectified Will (Psalm 86:11) Continuity of Study To Be Continued …. ________________________________________ Isaiah 40: 28: Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding. 29 He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. 30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: 31 But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint. “Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you.” James 4: 8
Posted on: Fri, 04 Oct 2013 02:58:14 +0000
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