Christianity Oasis Forum

[Netchaplain]

It’s not so much as what we are doing but why we are doing it; and how it is done will determine the effectiveness of its delivery! While in a babe-in-Christ stage we are not able to know much of what God’s desires are of many things, and until there is sufficient knowledge and comprehension of His Word concerning the Spirit “conforming us to the image of His Son” (Ro 8:29; 2Co 3:1), there will often be labors that are not necessarily God centered, all of which are merely part of His school of learning.

Believers “live in the Spirit” and are learning to “walk in the Spirit” (Gal 5:25) at varying paces, and it’s certain that the level of maturity in Christ is in accordance with the time spent and apprehension applied in His Word and in corporate worship with believers. In the progress of “being conformed,” we eventually learn that maturity means—“whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men” (Col 3:23; Eph 6:7).
NC



Sit To Serve


While it is comparatively easy to convict the idle and slothful, it is not so easy to convict the active Martha that she is unwisely occupied (Luk 10:41; 42). The work seems so right and so necessary, that it appears almost impossible that here could be any personal plan in it.

Nothing so deceives and leads astray as the conscience working at a distance from the Lord Jesus. For instance, if I feel in conscience that I ought to be His servant (true enough, I am His bondsman), but if I am not near Him, if I am not in personal fellowship with Him, I may begin to do something to satisfy my conscience, and if so I do it legally, and not as what simply suits Him. I do it to make my conscience easy and satisfied.

When this is the case I do not consult what He would like me to do, but I do what I think best to be done (maturing in Christ manifests having “the mind of Christ” - 1Co 2:16—NC). It is not His pleasure that guides me, it is my own mind, as to what is suitable and proper. It may be a quite a necessary service as Martha’s was, but Martha was evidently thinking of the services which were incumbent (obligated to repay—NC) on her to render, and was not governed by His pleasure.

Here is where we fail—undertaking to serve where it is in a degree creditable to ourselves, and we thus get disappointed (if we are true-hearted about it) because we have not the acknowledgement of His pleasure. It is evident when I am occupied with services, however useful and necessary, which I have undertaken of myself, feeling that they devolve upon me, that I am not sitting at His feet, Mary-like. There is no growth in Him—the flesh is in the service (so we continue to pray for being Spirit-led and “trying the spirits [conceptions] whether they are of God” - 1Jo 4:1—NC).

It is most blessed to work for the Lord Jesus, but if my work engrosses me more than Himself, then I am not really working for Him: “Without Me ye can do nothing.” If I am truly working for Him, I am drawing from Him, and growing in Him (Eph 4:15; 2Pe 3:18). Sitting at His feet is the natural posture of my soul. When one is sitting at His feet, hearing His Word, he will not be behind in true service—pleasing Him.

If you begin with service, as most do, you will not sit at His feet; whereas if you begin with sitting as His feet (desiring the right motive—NC), you will serve well, wisely and acceptably. When the serving quiets the conscience, and the sitting is overlooked and neglected, the enemy gains an advantage (concerning fellowship and growth, but never union—NC); for it is at the sitting that the conscience is enlightened, and the pleasure and mind of the Master become better known.

I never met with anyone making his service prominent who knew what it was to sit at the Master’s feet; but, thank God, I know indefatigable workers who enjoy sitting as His feet above any service. It is clear that those who sit most as His feet must be most competent to serve, and most in His confidence, which is the clue to all efficient service.

—J B Stoney (1814-897)


Excerpt from MJS’ daily devotional for 4/15/21:

“God has but one way of revealing Himself, it is ‘Christ in you.’ He has no other way of showing Himself to men except as Christ lives in us; not by the Shekinah glory in the temple built with hands of men, but in lives redeemed and freed and cleansed as they walk about in this dark world with Christ living in them.” - Laurence Laurenson (1867-1929)
http://www.abideabove.com/hungry-heart/