OSWALD CHAMBERS*
JOHN 1: 38-39
Jesus turned and saw them following him and said to them, “What are you looking for?” They said to him, “Rabbi” (which translated means Teacher), “where are you staying?” He said to them, “Come, and you will see.” So they went and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day. It was about four in the afternoon.
Where our self-interest sleeps and the real interest is awakened. “They…remained with Him that day….” That is about all some of us ever do. We stay with Him a short time, only to wake up to our own realities of life. Our self-interest rises up and our abiding with Him is past. Yet there is no circumstance of life in which we cannot abide in Jesus.
“You are Simon….You shall be called Cephas” (John 1:42). God writes our new name only on those places in our lives where He has erased our pride, self-sufficiency, and self-interest. Some of us have our new name written only in certain spots, like spiritual measles. And in those areas of our lives we look all right. When we are in our best spiritual mood, you would think we were the highest quality saints. But don’t dare look at us when we are not in that mood. A true disciple is one who has his new name written all over him— self-interest, pride, and self-sufficiency have been completely erased.
Pride is the sin of making “self” our god. And some of us today do this, not like the Pharisee, but like the tax collector (see Luke 18:9-14). For you to say, “Oh, I’m no saint,” is acceptable by human standards of pride, but it is unconscious blasphemy against God. You defy God to make you a saint, as if to say, “I am too weak and hopeless and outside the reach of the atonement by the Cross of Christ.” Why aren’t you a saint? It is either that you do not want to be a saint, or that you do not believe that God can make you into one. You say it would be all right if God saved you and took you straight to heaven. That is exactly what He will do! And not only do we make our home with Him, but Jesus said of His Father and Himself, “…We will come to him and make Our home with him” (John 14:23). Put no conditions on your life— let Jesus be everything to you, and He will take you home with Him not only for a day, but for eternity.
LORD, HELP YOURSELF TO MY LIFE!
*MY UTMOST FOR HIS HIGHEST
PRAYER
Our Father, You have given us many invitations to come to You. You have invited us to come with our sins, to come with our troubles, to come with our mistakes, to come with our cares, to come with our sorrows.
You have told us to come at all times, that we shall never be unwelcome, never be turned away, and never find You too busy to hear us.
You have promised us mercy for our sins, comfort for our sorrows, strength for our duties, wisdom for our ignorance, when we come to You. We thank You for all these precious invitations and assurances.
What would we do, O God, if we might not thus come to You? To whom else could we go? There is no other in all the universe who could help us — as we must be helped. Our hearts are full of praise and rejoicing, that we may thus come to You. There is nothing we cannot bring to You — nothing too small to bring — and nothing too large. We thank You that we are so blessed, that we have all Your divine love and grace to help us in our times of need. We need no other help, but Yours. We come to you with all our burdens.
We have sins. These are our worst burdens. They will sink us to eternal despair unless we find help. We thank You that the Lord Jesus bore our sins, and bore them away. In His name, depending upon redeeming love and mercy, we come with our sins.
We have other needs. We are not strong enough for duty. We cannot stand against the world and the power of Satan. We have no wisdom for life’s problems, its duties, its responsibilities. We need strength, we need wisdom, we need grace — for every moment!
So we come to You, our Father as Your redeemed children. Receive us, bless us, keep us, help us. We ask through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.