Thoughts of Grace

Good Morning

from My Utmost for His Highest, Oswald Chambers

“But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith . . .” Jude 20

There was nothing of the nature of impulse
or thoughtless action about Our Lord,
but only a calm strength that never got into panic.
Most of us develop our Christianity
along the lines of our own nature,
not along the lines of God’s nature.
Impulsiveness is a trait of the natural life,
but Our Lord always ignores it,
because it hinders the development of the life of a disciple.
Watch how the Spirit of God
gives a sense of restraint to impulsiveness,
suddenly bringing us a feeling of self-conscious foolishness
which makes us instantly want to vindicate ourselves.
Impulsiveness is all right in a child,
but it is disastrous in a man or woman;
an impulsive adult is always a spoiled person.
Impulsiveness needs to be trained into intuition by discipline.

Discipleship is built entirely on the supernatural grace of God.
Walking on the water is easy to someone with impulsive boldness,
but walking on dry land as a disciple of Jesus Christ
is something altogether different.
Peter walked on the water to go to Jesus,
but he “followed Him at a distance” on dry land (Mark 14:54).
We do not need the grace of God to withstand crises,
human nature and pride are sufficient
for us to face the stress and strain magnificently.
But it does require the supernatural grace of God
to live twenty-four hours of every day as a saint,
going through drudgery,
and living an ordinary, unnoticed, ignored existence
as a disciple of Jesus.
It is ingrained in us
that we have to do exceptional things for God;
but we do not.
We have to be exceptional in the ordinary things of life,
and holy on the ordinary streets,
among ordinary people,
and this is not learned in five minutes.

Be exceptional . . .Today
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie