Wednesday, June 2, 2010

This Is 'My Today'

I am reading a very short but profound book called School of Christ  by T. Austin Sparks.  This passage from chapter 3 sums up a lot of my day today:

God always keeps the revelation of Himself in Christ bound up with practical situations. I want you to get that. God always keeps the revelation of Himself in Christ bound up with practical situations. You and I can never get revelation other than in connection with some necessity. We cannot get it simply as a matter of information. That is information, that is not revelation. We cannot get it by studying. When the Lord gave the manna in the wilderness (type of Christ as the bread from heaven) He stipulated very strongly that not one fragment more than the day's need was to be gathered, and that if they went beyond the measure of immediate need, disease and death would break out and overtake them. The principle, the law, of the manna, is that God keeps revelation of Himself in Christ bound up with practical situations of necessity, and we are not going to have revelation as mere teaching, doctrine, interpretation, theory, or anything as a thing, which means that God is going to put you and me into situations where only the revelation of Christ can help us and save us.  ...

Do not ask for light as some thing; ask for a fuller knowledge of the Lord Jesus. That is the way, for that is the only living way to know Him: and remember God always keeps the knowledge of Himself in Christ bound up with practical situations. That cuts both ways. We have to be in the situation. The Holy Spirit will bring us, if we are in His hand, into the situation which will make necessary a new knowledge of the Lord. That is one side. The other side is that, if we are in a situation which is a very hard and a very difficult one, we are in the very position to ask for a revelation of the Lord.  

2 comments:

  1. Two things:
    1st - I LOVE the pic of the week. Fabulous!

    2nd - girl, I'm so glad you are reading through this book now. Cause I need to hear this stuff again. =) I was pondering this paragraph after you sent it to me. Thinking about how Jesus provided for us just yesterday through you guys and how my initial reaction was to conjure up some sort of formula for how Christ works. Some sort of 'way' He does things.
    But as I thought about it, I put RC in the place of Jesus. (not because Jesus and RC are in the same ballpark, but to help me more easily see Christ as a person and not an idea) And I realized that had RC met my need yesterday I wouldn't have tried to figure how how he does things. The 'way' he works. I would have just known and loved him more through that encounter. I wouldn't have worried about how he was going to meet my needs next time or tried to see some formula. I would have just reveled in Him.
    I realized I was looking for formulas or ways with Christ because I was looking for security. I was tired of being in situations of need. And then I realized how many people choose not to go on with Christ because they desire the 'security' more. (though we know it's not real security)
    I choose being in need everyday of the rest of my life if that is what Christ chooses for me so I can know him more.
    He is more than worth it.

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  2. Amen girl!!! He is so worth it!!!

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