“Beware of talking about abandonment if you know nothing about it, and you will never know anything about it until you have realized that John 3:16 means that God gave Himself absolutely. In our abandonment we give ourselves over to God just as God gave Himself for us, without any calculation.” I must take this warning from OC seriously. I can’t talk about abandonment from experience as he does. I have not reached that level of abandonment. I recognize the need for it, the wisdom of it, the joy in it. I just haven’t achieved it.
I guess I have been caught between the teachings about the freedom the new life in Christ brings and those who stress the holiness that life is to produce. It seems difficult for the two to coexist in one life. I believe I need to focus less on the effects and more on the relationship, less on the blessings and more on the person.
“Salvation is not merely deliverance from sin, nor the experience of personal holiness; the salvation of God is deliverance out of self entirely into union with Himself.” The idea of any kind of relationship with God has been overwhelming. Now OC urges the ultimate relationship: one that means a complete “union with Himself.” I can feel the compulsion toward it; I certainly don’t feel the reality of it now in my life.
“To say that we are called to preach holiness or sanctification, is to get into a side eddy. We are called to proclaim Jesus Christ. The fact that He saves from sin and makes us holy is part of the effect of the wonderful abandonment of God.”
I have previously related how when I found myself a pastor I felt completely inadequate. I modified a pulpit placing “J E S U S” prominently across the front of it. My prayer at the time was that no matter how I might fall short when speaking at the podium, at a minimum the assembled would see Jesus. That pulpit is the one we use now at Amana.
As I age I realize that it’s all about Jesus. I need to stop trying to live any part of life without Him; to end expectation that any joy comes out of anything but Him; and that all I can every hope to effectively communicate is Him.
In Him is all blessing. Move closer. May the union with Him more complete. Let go and grow.
Be blessed.
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