. . . by
whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world — Galatians 6:14
If I dwell on the Cross of Christ, I do
not simply become inwardly devout and solely interested in my own holiness— I
become strongly focused on Jesus Christ’s interests. Our Lord was not a recluse nor a fanatical holy man practicing
self-denial. He did not physically cut Himself off from society, but He was
inwardly disconnected all the time. He was not aloof, but He lived in another world.
In fact, He was so much in the common everyday world that the religious people
of His day accused Him of being a glutton and a drunkard. Yet our Lord never
allowed anything to interfere with His consecration of spiritual power.
It is not genuine consecration to think
that we can refuse to be used of God now in order to store up our spiritual
power for later use. That is a hopeless mistake. The Spirit of God has set a
great many people free from their sin, yet they are experiencing no fullness in
their lives— no true sense of freedom. The kind of religious life we see around
the world today is entirely different from the vigorous holiness of the life of
Jesus Christ. “I do not pray that You should take them
out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one” (John 17:15).
We are to be in the world but not of it— to be separated
internally, not externally (see John 17:16).
We must never allow anything to
interfere with the consecration of our spiritual power. Consecration (being
dedicated to God’s service) is our part; sanctification (being set apart from
sin and being made holy) is God’s part. We must make a deliberate determination
to be interested only in what God is interested. The way to make that
determination, when faced with a perplexing problem, is to ask yourself, “Is
this the kind of thing in which Jesus Christ is interested, or is it something
in which the spirit that is diametrically opposed to Jesus is interested?”
(Taken
from Oswald Chambers – “My Utmost for His Highest” November 27)