Do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you . . . —Luke 10:20
Worldliness is not the trap that most endangers us as Christian workers; nor is it sin. The trap we fall into is extravagantly desiring spiritual success; that is, success measured by, and patterned after, the form set by this religious age in which we now live. Never seek after anything other than the approval of God, and always be willing to go “outside the camp, bearing His reproach” (Hebrews 13:13). In Luke 10:20 , Jesus told the disciples not to rejoice in successful service, and yet this seems to be the one thing in which most of us do rejoice. We have a commercialized view— we count how many souls have been saved and sanctified, we thank God, and then we think everything is all right. Yet our work only begins where God’s grace has laid the foundation. Our work is not to save souls, but to disciple them. Salvation and sanctification are the work of God’s sovereign grace, and our work as His disciples is to disciple others’ lives until they are totally yielded to God. One life totally devoted to God is of more value to Him than one hundred lives which have been simply awakened by His Spirit. As workers for God, we must reproduce our own kind spiritually, and those lives will be God’s testimony to us as His workers. God brings us up to a standard of life through His grace, and we are responsible for reproducing that same standard in others.
Unless the worker lives a life that “is hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:3), he is apt to become an irritating dictator to others, instead of an active, living disciple. Many of us are dictators, dictating our desires to individuals and to groups. But Jesus never dictates to us in that way. Whenever our Lord talked about discipleship, He always prefaced His words with an “if,” never with the forceful or dogmatic statement— “You must.” Discipleship carries with it an option.
Journal DJR
Good morning Lord,
For over a year, we have been talking about changing the source of our daily devotional. But, even though we have been using My Utmost For His Highest for over 4 years… You always seem to bring something new for us. One of the places we’ve looked is the works of Henri Nouwen. I thought it would be interesting to look at them side by side. Here is his daily devotional for today:
Fulfilling a Mission
When we live our lives as missions, we become aware that there is a home from where we are sent and to where we have to return. We start thinking about ourselves as people who are in a faraway country to bring a message or work on a project, but only for a certain amount of time. When the message has been delivered and the project is finished, we want to return home to give an account of our mission and to rest from our labours.
One of the most important spiritual disciplines is to develop the knowledge that the years of our lives are years “on a mission.”
Well, parts of those two fit together well. Henri brings that we are on a short term mission (70 years or so) And Oswald clarifies that the mission is more to make disciples who are totally sold out and walking with You than to merely get them in the front door. And the only way we can do that is to be that. We will only create what we are. So our message must be our lives.
The other thing that speaks to me today is that you are not a dictator and we shouldn’t be either …
“But Jesus never dictates to us in that way. Whenever our Lord talked about discipleship, He always prefaced His words with an “if,” never with the forceful or dogmatic statement— “You must.” Discipleship carries with it an option.”
But what about the 10 Commandments? The word Commandments sounds like dictating. Saying the 10 Options or the 10 Suggestions sounds sacrilegious.
It is sacrilegious, meaning against religion. But I have no problem with those perspectives. There are many perspectives, like in your story about the 4 blind men experiencing an elephant for the first time. They were all legitimate perspectives.
Seeing from other perspectives beside your comfortable religious one, will be helpful. When all those blind guys put their perspectives on an elephant together … they were pretty close to the real thing. A lot closer than if they had just clung to their own first impressions.
So consider 10 Options or 10 Suggestions. Remember, I am a loving Father who wants the best for his children but I dont want robots. I want my kids to choose to love me back. So I suggest the best ways for them to live. But, as you can see, from this perspective they are suggestions for your good … but you have options to follow them or not.
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