Oswald Chambers wrote years ago a provocative, devotional thought that is recorded in "My Utmost For His Highest" on December 24th. It reads as follows:
When we think of being delivered from sin, of being filled with the Spirit, and of walking in the light, we picture the peak of a great mountain, very high and wonderful, and we say -- "Oh, but I could never live up there!" But when we do get there, by God's grace, we find it is not a mountain peak, but a plateau where there is ample room to live and to grow. "He has enlarged my steps under me."
This is so cool and true! Living in the light, living life with an utmost desire to honor and please Jesus Christ, is not a walk on the peak of a mountain that if you don't walk carefully or you miss a step, we are apt to fall off and soar to the bottom of the mountain. NO, it is just the opposite! Living a sanctified life with Jesus always on your heart and mind is the smoothest, easiest path in the world when we are abiding in Him. When we are talking to him, looking to Him, worshipping Him, communing in His Word, we are at peace, in love, confident, safe, and contented with life, not because life if perfect, but because Jesus is LIFE.
It is when we are not nurturing the relationship with Him as our highest priority, that walking with Him on the high mountain becomes such a struggle. It requires all our efforts and it seems impossible and unobtainable. Striving commences and peace is an obscurity. Loves escapes us and failure seems to be our song.
But, oh precious ones...when we seek Jesus alone, telling Him we love Him and relate to Him as our highest praise and bestest friend, (forgive the grammar on this word) we have so much room to grow as we walk on the mountaintop day into night. So much room to GROW, laugh, love, doubt, cry, hurt, fall, and then get back up again!
He is truly the Way, the Truth, and the Life! Without Him life is precarious, full of strife, and difficult at best. With Him as the reason that we live, this same life, although a journey of ups and downs, can be an adventure where we are walking on a plateau that is safe and is always a refuge from the world! A place where we can run in the field of flowers and twirl around and around...a place where we can climb the highest mountain and swim the deepest ocean...and know that He is Emmanuel, God With Us. This top of the mountain life is simply a life where we know who He is in relation to who we are...and this confidence is with us as we take each step of life.
Simply stated, the difference between the Christian life as a constant struggle and the Christian life as a journey of peace and refuge is whether we will seek Christ as our Utmost and Highest. Whether we will surrender to obey or rule our own life and disobey. God grant us the hunger and thirst to love and obey You above all!
Thank you Jesus that I can freely run and play and work and explore life within the safe boundaries of Your Word and Will, even when I am standing on the peak of the MOUNTAIN!
Merry Christmas and God bless your New Year!
