Oswald Chambers Today

November 30th.
BY THE GRACE OF GOD I AM WHAT I AM
"His grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain." 1 Corinthians 15:10
The way we continually talk about our own inability is an insult to the Creator. The deploring of our own incompetence is a slander against God for having overlooked us. Get into the habit of examining in the sight of God the things that sound humble before men, and you will be amazed at how staggeringly impertinent they are. "Oh, I shouldn't like to say I am sanctified; I'm not a saint." Say that before God; and it means - "No, Lord, it is impossible for You to save and sanctify me; there are chances I have not had; so many imperfections in my brain and body; no, Lord, it isn't possible." That may sound wonderfully humble before men, but before God it is an attitude of defiance.
Again, the things that sound humble before God may sound the opposite before men. To say Thank God, I know I am saved and sanctified is in the sight of God the acme of humility, it means you have so completely abandoned yourself to God that you know He is true. Never bother your head as to whether what you say sounds humble before men or not, but always be humble before God, and let Him be all in all.
There is only one relationship that matters, and that is your personal relationship to a personal Redeemer and Lord. Let everything else go, but maintain that at all costs, and God will fulfill His purpose through your life. One individual life may be of priceless value to God's purposes, and
yours may be that life.

I love this devotional. I try and read it everyday. Today stuck out to me. It usually takes reading a few times before I can grasp the point it. The language isn't current, so it takes a few times of reading before I can thoroughly understand. But when I have got it understood it is always applicable. even if it was written a while ago. This particular day rang true. How often do we look for the approval man. All the time. We measure ourselves against others and compare what we have with what another has and measure ourselves. We think we are better or worse and through that we end up judging ourselves or another person. We need to measure ourselves against the Godly example and we will see that no one measures up. We are all sinners and not one is righteous. That is why we all are in such a desperate need of a saviour. With Christmas coming up it will be that much more apparent. At this time of year everyone that has heard of Jesus will think of Jesus. We will hear about Him on the radio with Christmas songs and some may go to Church at this time of year, who don't ever go at another time of year. We see that Jesus came and was born in the lowliest place. A stable with animals in the cold. Jesus can identify with anyone because He came to earth as a baby. Babies are helpless little humans in need of care. We are helpless because there is no way that we can avoid sinning. It is in our nature as humans. It is unavoidable. Once we can realize that, we can see that without the forgiveness of Jesus and His death and bloodshed on the cross... there is no way that we can be forgiven. We can't turn one hair on our head grey... let alone forgive our own sin. Jesus was the perfect sinless man and he died with our sin in mind. When God in Heaven looks down to earth at his sons and daughters... he doesn't see our sin. What he sees is the blood of Jesus covering our sin. And through the death of Jesus we can live with the rest and peace that goes along with knowing that we are forgiven and that nothing will seperate us from the love of Christ.