Oswald Chambers on Laying Down Our Lives

Most believers don't know that Oswald Chambers, who wrote the most popular devotional of all time named "My Utmost for His Highest," was highly influenced by the writings of Jeanne Guyon and Fenelon.

In the June 16 entry in the devotional, he comments on a couple of things that are very insightful and needful for the times we live in.

Commenting on laying down our lives, he correctly identifies the difference between that "heroic" dying that everyone remembers, and the day-to-day laying down of our lives in the quiet obscurity, which most of our lives are.

What Oswald Chambers says is it's far easier to die in that heroic way than to walk the daily path of life in this way before the Lord and toward our brethren.

Chambers adds, "We are not made for brilliant moments, but we have to walk in the light of them in ordinary ways." He refers to Jesus not having these types of moments, other than possibly the transfiguration, which was only witnessed by three men.

I might add when he came in riding on the donkey and was hailed as the King, may have been another moment, but even there strong opposition happened as He humbly rode in the midst of the people. It wasn't exactly the things made of kings which the world would have wanted.

When John said "we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren," he wasn't speaking of that very public and heroic way that disciples like Peter envisioned, but rather, again, the daily laying down of our lives for one another.

This reminds me of the very godly sister named Margaret Barber, who had a profound effect on Watchman Nee, and by extension, an untold number of Chinese believers of that day, and many more long past her and Watchman Nees deaths.

Barber was stationed at one town in China, and opposition from Christians arose, and she refused to harm Christ and His testimony in any way, so she moved to a tiny little village, where she worked unto the Lord in obscurity, although many of those used by the Lord would travel there to get her input and insights.

There she battled for Watchmen Nee and others having an impact on China for Christ by pushing them to knowing Christ experienctially, rather than primarily as an intellectual knowing and understanding.

She didn't attempt to gain attention, and other than maybe a dozen pages of writing about her, there is almost nothing known of her life on earth for the Lord, yet she had an extraordinary spiritual impact - the only one that really counts.

You can only have that by laying you life down for others and not looking for the attention so many others crave when they're working and living unto Christ.

Remarkably, very few believers are willing to walk this quiet way before the Lord, simply living unto Him and pouring themselves out daily for their brethren.

We need far more of this among believers today, and hopefully those that may discover this little encouragement will find it within themselves to lay down their lives for one another on a daily basis and in a way that desires no attention or need for being acknowledged.

Being known is overrated, and it's far better to live before the Lord in a quiet, peaceful and unpretentious way, than to attempt to be noticed.

Very few people can successfully live in the public eye while maintaining their walk in Christ. And even if they find themselves able to keep away from falling, there is, for the most part, an almost impossible challenge of maintaining a close walk with the Lord, laying down of their lives, and not thinking of themselves as more important than they really are.

Paul was exasperated by this when he wrote letters to the churches, reminding them that men are nothing and Christ is everything. Those with reputations didn't impress Paul, and neither should it impress us - nor should we seek for it.

Far too many believers think of the "ministry" as some type of extra thing they go out and do outside the body of Christ, while in practice it was meant to be a daily sharing of the life of Christ together, where people simply talked about Christ and what He was doing in their lives.

That was really what was ministry, which today has become the disastrous idea of professionalism and being special, rather than being a part of daily laying down of our lives unto the Lord and for one another.

Margaret Barber and the Danger Faced by Watchman Nee

Many people today will struggle to comprehend what it was Margaret Barber saw decades ago when she wrote a letter to D.M. Panton concerning Watchman Nee.

For a little background, Watchman Nee was only recently saved when he came into contact with Margaret Barber, a wonderful servant of the Lord based in China. Very little is known about Margaret Barber, yet she was one of the choice believers on the earth at the time.

Watchman Nee said of her that she taught him more of the Lord than any other person on earth, and Watchman Nee had traveled around the earth and met many great ones of that time.

Margaret Barber wouldn't have cared about any of that, but I only mention it to underscore the situation this letter was written in.

Watchman Nee came to visit Barber a number times, taking advantage of a shelf of books she had. He would even attempt to trick her into giving them to her, and if she thought he wasn't ready for them, he would figure out where to get them elsewhere, even if Margaret Barber didn't approve.

What Barber saw was that Watchman Nee was going to be a major influence in China for Christ, but he was in extreme danger. The danger wasn't in reference to suffering in Christ or the future imprisonment of Nee, rather, the danger was that Nee was focusing on a mental apprehension of the Lord rather than experiencing Him.

Here's a portion of what Barber wrote to Panton:

"Please do not let Faithful Luke & Watchman Nee worry you with letters. It is so good & kind of you to have written once to them. They are likely to be tiresome. They write to Mr. Wright Hay or any Editor whose address they can get & do not understand how precious time is to a busy Editor. For many reasons I think you should not be feeling obliged even to answer their letters. These two young men are in great danger. They have a mental apprehension of God’s Truth which unless lived out will be their peril."

What's amazing about this letter to me is the fact that someone saw the danger at all. Today most believers in contact with someone like Nee would think they were spiritual giants or potential giants because they mentally acquired a knowledge of the scriptures and "truths" concerning Christ.

Barber understood the extraordinary danger Nee was in by pursuing that path, and she graciously pointed that out to Panton.

Again, a reason I think Barber took the extraordinary step of writing this way to Panton was because she saw what the Lord wanted to do with Nee, and if Nee traveled the wrong path, those that followed him would take the same path. She was fighting to see this not happen.

In our day and age of cheap Christianity and self-focused lifestyles, it's amazing to recall this great (in God's eyes) woman of God who saw the extreme dangers that can come about for a zealous believer apprehending truth without practical and experiential living out the life of the Lord.