Our calling is not primarily to be holy men and women, but to be proclaimers of the gospel of God. The one all-important thing is that the gospel of God should be recognized as the abiding reality. Reality is not human goodness, or holiness, or heaven, or hell— it is redemption. The need to perceive this is the most vital need of the Christian worker today. As workers, we have to get used to the revelation that redemption is the only reality. Personal holiness is an effect of redemption, not the cause of it. If we place our faith in human goodness we will go under when testing comes.Paul did not say that he separated himself, but “when it pleased God, who separated me . . .” (Galatians 1:15). Paul was not overly interested in his own character. And as long as our eyes are focused on our own personal holiness, we will never even get close to the full reality of redemption. Christian workers fail because they place their desire for their own holiness above their desire to know God. “Don’t ask me to be confronted with the strong reality of redemption on behalf of the filth of human life surrounding me today; what I want is anything God can do for me to make me more desirable in my own eyes.” To talk that way is a sign that the reality of the gospel of God has not begun to touch me. There is no reckless abandon to God in that. God cannot deliver me while my interest is merely in my own character. Paul was not conscious of himself. He was recklessly abandoned, totally surrendered, and separated by God for one purpose— to proclaim the gospel of God (see Romans 9:3).

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January 31, 2012

Journal Entry for Today-JDV

Lord, it feels like You have been listening to my prayers lately, the ones about helping me become a better man; to help me lose my bad habits and selfish inclinations. I have been asking you to improve and strengthen my character and integrity, and all the while I thought it sounded pretty noble. But Chambers tells me this morning that is not what you desire for me. As I read this devotional, I understand the message to be: “we are transformed into people of the right character and integrity, not by asking for those attributes, but by reaching out to others proclaiming the Gospel.

Lord, help me become recklessly abandoned to You and the Gospel of Christ….with my life”

And God says…”Jesus gave you but two commandments; to love your God with all that you are, and to love your neighbor as yourself. And remember, proclaiming the Gospel has less to do with what you say and more to do with how you live out your love of God. Seek to proclaim the Gospel with your life, and over time, as a by product, the character of Christ will inhabit your life. “