Oswald Chambers, after quoting Galatians 6:4—“by whom the
world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world,” said, “We are to be in the
world but not of it; to be disconnected fundamentally, not externally. We must never allow anything to interfere
with the consecration of our spiritual energy. Consecration is our part,
sanctification is God’s part; and we have deliberately to determine to be
interested in that only in which God is interested.”
The world teaches a false humility which only dresses self
in modest attire. Jesus taught that to
gain self ultimately one must lose self temporarily. To truly obtain eternal life, one must
COMPLETELY die to temporal life. Trust
is taught in many businesses today by falling backwards with no concrete
assurance that coworkers will catch you before you hit the ground. Likewise, we must lay our bodies in the
ground and hope that God resurrects us whole into paradise. Trust we must! Alas, most go to their grave afraid and
hopeless, not trusting but thinly hoping.
It behooves us to settle future and exterior consequences now and
internally.
A true martyr is dead to self, “disconnected fundamentally”
and internally from this world and all its charms; if that martyr is executed
externally or physically, he experiences a victory and an advancement. His death actually becomes an unnecessary
dramatic flourish; it had already been settled that his life is not his
own. He is dead to self-interest. The final stage of his trust is now consummated
awaiting only the reward God gives to all who maintain faith to the end.
If true Christianity were not supernatural and miraculous,
then perhaps martyrdom would suffice as the ultimate test of devotion. But the final stage of trust reaches beyond
the realm of mortal life into the higher and more serious realm of eternal
life. When Paul said, “I ... suffer ... things, but I am not ashamed; for I
know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I
have entrusted to Him until that day” (2 Timothy 1:2), he no doubt TRUSTED God
beyond any mortal inconvenience or death.
He even went so far as to wish himself “accursed” for others IF IT WERE
POSSIBLE. So selfless had Paul become in
his Christian maturity, that he even began to speak of losing eternal life in
order to save others. Did not our Savior
become a curse in order to save us?
Therein is the ultimate sacrifice; Paul went all the way and identified
with Jesus Christ in His sufferings to the degree that he laid down his life
for others (even his eternal life). The
impact Paul had on Christian history is born out of his death for others; his
words are Spirit and life because they are words resurrected and therefore
eternal.
Some final thoughts. Jeanne
Guyon (1648-1717), wrote of the deeper life in Christ, even the final steps of
maturity; in regards to submission or subjugation of our wills to God’s will
she said, “How far are you willing to go in yielding your will to God? How far is proper? What are the limits of obedience, the ends of
abandonment, the ultimate willingness of the will? The ‘Song of Songs,’ chapter 5, records a
possible insight, for there you find a soul giving up the hope of eternal life!” If there was not a more explicit example
in scripture of someone doing exactly that, viz., being willing to lose their
eternal life in order to save others, Guyon might not have convinced me. But there is!
St. Paul speaking: “I am telling the truth in Christ, I am not
lying, my conscience testifies with me [enlightened and prompted] by the Holy
Spirit, that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For [if it were possible] I would wish that I
myself were accursed, [separated, banished] from Christ for the sake [of the
salvation] of my brothers” (Romans 9:1-3 AMP).
The church is in
desperate need of resurrection power, but resurrection power only arises out of
the death of mortal power. Until we
trust God fully with our lives, even our eternal lives, we have not fully matured
and trusted. Until we can say like Paul,
“I would...that I myself were accursed,” we are holding back from “drinking the
cup” our Lord and Savior drank. Either
we go all the way and place our lives, even our eternal destiny, into His
hands, or we slink into powerless oblivion.
We pray, read His word (and of course we should!), but where is the
resurrection power that turns the world upside down and saves souls? Until we complete THE FINAL STAGE OF TRUST it
is doubtful the world will ever know we exist.
