Today I was touched by Oswald's "Utmost." I wanted to share it with the church, as I believe it is a great reminder for the body. Do we really know Him? Oswald hits a home run with this devotion. My desire is for Hillside to be a spiritually "Christ" seeking church. Can you even imagine what the church would look like if we were all surrendered, daily, to His will? WOW! Zach and I are excited for the future! We are expectant and we are praising God daily for each of you! In your church Lord, be glorified...
Cammie
The Spiritually Self-Seeking Church
. . . till we all come . . . to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ . . . —Ephesians 4:13
Reconciliation means the restoring of the relationship between the entire human race and God, putting it back to what God designed it to be. This is what Jesus Christ did in redemption. The church ceases to be spiritual when it becomes self-seeking, only interested in the development of its own organization. The reconciliation of the human race according to His plan means realizing Him not only in our lives individually, but also in our lives collectively. Jesus Christ sent apostles and teachers for this very purpose— that the corporate Person of Christ and His church, made up of many members, might be brought into being and made known. We are not here to develop a spiritual life of our own, or to enjoy a quiet spiritual retreat. We are here to have the full realization of Jesus Christ, for the purpose of building His body.
Am I building up the body of Christ, or am I only concerned about my own personal development? The essential thing is my personal relationship with Jesus Christ— ". . . that I may know Him. . ." ( Philippians 3:10 ). To fulfill God’s perfect design for me requires my total surrender— complete abandonment of myself to Him. Whenever I only want things for myself, the relationship is distorted. And I will suffer great humiliation once I come to acknowledge and understand that I have not really been concerned about realizing Jesus Christ Himself, but only concerned with knowing what He has done for me.
My goal is God Himself, not joy nor peace, Nor even blessing, but Himself, my God.
Am I measuring my life by this standard or by something less?
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4 comments:
How can I better build up the body of Christ? Praying by name and pursuing Him of course. What else can we do? Is there a teaching we can enlist? This should be our priority. A constant prayer the Holy Spirit prompts me on is that God's Spirit will be apparent when a new person walks through God's Holy Doors. Is there more we can do to acomplish this? We are all blessed to have one another with Him at the helm!! Love from Doug.
It is only when we do nothing (by surrendering and letting God) that we do much. How wonderful is that: To soar on "eagles wings"! Jo
Great stuff....you can't go wrong when your desire is God. May we be Christian Hedonist's! Christian Hedonism is: God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him. -John Piper
There is a great article at: http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/Articles/ByDate/2006/1797_We_Want_You_to_Be_a_Christian_Hedonist/ Love you guys, Nathan
Sorry it got cut off..
http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/Articles/ByDate/2006/1797_We_Want_You_to_Be_a_Christian_Hedonist/
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