THE KEY TO MISSIONARY DEVOTION by Oswald Chambers

"For His name's sake they went forth." 3 John 7

Our Lord has told us how love to Him is to manifest itself. "Lovest thou Me?" "Feed My sheep" - identify yourself with My interests in other people, not, identify Me with your interests in other people. 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 gives the character of this love, it is the love of God expressing itself. The test of my love for Jesus is the practical one, all the rest is sentimental jargon.

Loyalty to Jesus Christ is the supernatural work of Redemption wrought in me by the Holy Ghost Who sheds abroad the love of God in my heart, and that love works efficaciously through me in contact with everyone I meet. I remain loyal to His Name although every common-sense fact gives the lie to Him, and declares that He has no more power than a morning mist.

The key to missionary devotion means being attached to nothing and no one saving Our Lord Himself, not being detached from things externally. Our Lord was amazingly in and out among ordinary things; His detachment was on the inside towards God. External detachment is often an indication of a secret vital attachment to the things we keep away from externally.

The loyalty of a missionary is to keep his soul concentratedly open to the nature of the Lord Jesus Christ. The men and women Our Lord sends out on His enterprises are the ordinary human stuff, plus dominating devotion to Himself wrought by the Holy Ghost.

I think this is good, but I also think I'm missing something here. I like Chamber's, but many times his manner of speaking will leave me scratching my head. The third paragraph is still a bit confusing to me. Especially statements like;

His detachment was on the inside towards God.

He was distanced from God on the inside? Or am I completely reading this wrong? Would anyone care to explain the jist of this? I'm still trying to figure out what's being said here, though I would like to understand.

If anyone would take a stab at paraphrasing for me, it would be appreciated.

All things can be evil in themselves if we are more attached to them than to Christ Himself. If we possess a thing, we are not detached from it inwardly. It's an idol.

I agree with this, but to me it seems that Chambers was actually saying that when a person distances (detaches) themselves from physical things, it shows that it's potentially masking the true desire for, and the fixation of these things hidden within the heart.

The part that just seems the most confusing though is when he said Christ's detachment was on the inside towards God. The meaning of what he meant by this is still escaping me.

Thank you for the input though. I'm sure my mind should come around to it sooner or later.

Learn,

Thank you. That worded it much better for me. Now it finally got through what he was saying. Thank you also, StarofG0D for your input. My skull can be tough to get things through at times.