“A-Where Did He Go, George?!”

Today’s the day!

While the guys were still sleeping, a few faithful ladies walked down before dawn to the Garden Tomb to properly – finally – attend to the body of Jesus, as they had been prevented from doing so on the preparation day and Passover.

Tears filled their eyes as they pondered how on earth would they ever be able to move the huge stone that had been placed over the entryway. Only instead of the regiment of guards that Caiaphas had posted there, there was a distinct absence of activity there.

They round the corner leading up to the tomb only to find the stone was already moved…and an angel was sitting on top of it!

Bewildered, they listened to the angel’s words — “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, for He is risen!” — and looked into the tomb to see it was just as the angel had said….an empty funeral wrapping still in the place they had originally laid Him, but no Jesus.

They immediately ran back to where the disciples were and told them what they saw and heard.

John and Peter ran to the tomb to check it out. John stopped at the door and peered in, amazed. Peter lumbered inside, equally amazed. They departed to share with everyone else what had happened, and the news of Jesus’ resurrection hasn’t stopped spreading ever since.

This changes everything.

What do you intend to do with this, the most impactful news ever reported?

Counting all things as loss…((DTFD, February 11th))

(from “Daily Thoughts for Disciples” by Oswald Chambers, February 11th entry)

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“I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord.” — Philippians 3:8

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The first thing the Spirit of God does in us is to efface the things we rely upon naturally. paul argues this out in Philippians 3, in which he catalogs who he is and the things in which he might have confidence; “but,” he says, “I deliberately renounce all these things that I may gain Christ.”

The continual demand to consecrate our gifts to God is the devil’s counterfeit for sanctification. We have a way of saying — “What a wonderful power that man or woman would be in God’s service.” Reasoning on humanity’s broken virtues makes us fix on the wrong thing. The only way any man or woman can ever be of service to God is when he or she is willing to renounce all natural excellencies and determine to be weak in Him — “I am here for one thing only, for Jesus Christ to manifest Himself in me.”

That is to be the steadfast habit of a Christian’s life. Whenever we thing we are of use to God, we hinder Him. We have to form the habit of letting God carry on His work through us without obstruction or hindrance as He did through Jesus, and He will use us in ways He dare not let us see.

We have to efface every other thought but that of Jesus Christ. It is not done once for all; we have to be always doing it. If once you have seen that Jesus Christ is All in all, make the habit of letting Him be All in all. It will mean that you not only have implicit faith that He is All in all, but that you go through the trial of your faith and prove that He is.

After sanctification God delights to put us into places where He can make us wealthy. Jesus Christ counts as service not what we do for Him, but what we are to Him, and the inner secret of that is identity with Him in person. “That I may know Him.”

Taken from Daily Thoughts for Disciples, © 1976, 1994 by Oswald Chambers Publications Association, Ltd., and used by permission of Discovery House Publishers, Grand Rapids MI 49501. All rights reserved.

[[Some words Chambers uses are not used often today — click [here] to look up difficult words.]]

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Brief commentary:
This goes along with the thought line that spiritual gifts are not the same as natural talents (something that my own pastor was speaking about the past few Sundays — click here for the audio/video of the messages). And in certain ways, sometimes the gifts of the Spirit He chooses to give to you might be contrary to your own natural talents or affinities. Just as He gave a stuttering Moses the charge to lead and speak for Him to the people, He sometimes gifts people in ways that would otherwise be unnatural for them.

Then again, this shouldn’t surprise us. After all, isn’t salvation itself God intervening and gifting us with something that is contrary to our natural way? If the gift of salvation is contrary to our natural way, why then would we think that the gifts of the Spirit (which are given to help us preach Christ and make disciples) would be any different?

My guess is that most people find it easier (present company included) to “see” their own natural abilities and talents than it is to discern supernatural giftings; after all, you’ve spent your whole life getting to know the natural you and (more likely than not) a significantly shorter period of time getting to know the reborn you. But recognizing that the Holy Spirit gives supernatural gifts for specific purposes relating to the declaration of the Son (and not for the purpose of making you money, making people like you, or building your own personal kingdom) can help you in your discernment.

In Paul’s case, he had a whole lot of “upside” in his background that he had to be willing to “consider as rubbish” for the purpose of allowing God to gift him as the Lord saw fit for the purposes He had in store. Granted, the task in store for Paul was of a certain magnitude that he was given many spiritual gifts; nevertheless, every believer is given at least one gift for the calling with which they were called.

In any case, this entry is about setting aside things we most likely consider natural strengths for the purpose of allowing Him to work through us more effectively. It’s easy for us to recognize when we look at Peter always putting his foot in his mouth; it’s much more difficult for those who have a natural propensity for communication to put that aside for whatever it is the Lord might want to do in and through them each day.