All Noble Things are Difficult

[Chad]

All Noble Things are Difficult
Oswald Chambers

Enter ye in at the strait gate . . because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way. . . (Matthew 7:13-14)

If we are going to live as disciples of Jesus, we have to remember that all noble things are difficult. The Christian life is gloriously difficult, but the difficulty of it does not make us faint and cave in, it rouses us up to overcome. Do we so appreciate the marvellous salvation of Jesus Christ that we are our utmost for His highest?

God saves men by His sovereign grace through the Atonement of Jesus; He works in us to will and to do of His good pleasure; but we have to work out that salvation in practical living. If once we start on the basis of His Redemption to do what He commands, we find that we can do it. If we fail, it is because we have not practised. The crisis will reveal whether we have been practising or not. If we obey the Spirit of God and practise in our physical life what God has put in us by His Spirit, then when the crisis comes, we shall find that our own nature as well as the grace of God will stand by us.

Thank God He does give us difficult things to do! His salvation is a glad thing, but it is also a heroic, holy thing. It tests us for all we are worth. Jesus is bringing many "sons" unto glory, and God will not shield us from the requirements of a son. God's grace turns out men and women with a strong family likeness to Jesus Christ, not milk sops. It takes a tremendous amount of discipline to live the noble life of a disciple of Jesus in actual things. It is always necessary to make an effort to be noble.

 

[Mike Scott]

Hi Chad very good article.

I found that when the Lord uprooted our family from a comfortable life here in Canada to live in Mexico at a mission it was the start of many situations equal to this article.

There was many times of challenges that mostly grew us through success and then others through failure which was usually due to unfamiliarity with either the culture or local customs.

Each new challenge had so many rabbit trails so to speak that sometimes my head was spinning from how to best handle each new situation. The only right direction was being guided by the Holy Spirit who chose to speak through many different and interesting ways to us in Mexico.

Thanks again for the article. A good refresher lest we forget.

Mike
aka grizzly for Christ