A Passion for Sanctification
Biddy and Oswald Chambers were married in May 1910, and I love what Michelle Ule writes in her book Mrs Oswald Chambers on page 43: "As she got to know her new husband through their prayers together, Biddy delighted in his heartfelt requests. Oswald reviewed and prayed over his lengthy list daily... He thought prayer the greater work, and prayed continually."
Well I have spoken at length this year about prayer, so I won't go back into it today, except to say that I loved this thought of Biddy getting to know her husband through his prayers. Isn't that something? That praying with somebody can be the most intimate and personal thing? Perhaps you married couples listening can recommit to prayer together, and get to know each other in a deeper way through times of prayer. Perhaps you unmarried people listening can pray with friends and family and really approach it as a sacred and intimate thing.
Chambers' Passion for Holiness
But what really caught me in this paragraph was when Ule wrote this: "Acting as a mere messenger, (Oswald) longed for people to seek and find their sanctification in God alone."
For those who aren't familiar with that rather churchy term, let me explain: justification is when God forgives us for sin and adopts us into His family. Sanctification is His making us into Christlike and godly people. Chambers had a passion for seeing people not just saved and forgiven, but sanctified and made holy.
Perhaps one of the reasons I have most enjoyed ministering in the Church of the Nazarene, is our denomination's emphasis on sanctification. I love these words from General Superintendent Goodwin who served in our denomination many years ago: "It must be very clear that the universal call of God has always been unto holiness of heart and life. The first and only purpose of God as revealed in the Scriptures has been to establish His people in holiness... that the underlying purpose in all the dealings of God in the law and through the prophets, and in the final bursting forth of eternal glory in His own Son, has been His foreordained and infinite plan that His people should be established in holiness."
Both Grace and Holiness
Oswald Chambers knew this. His teaching was very much about finding salvation in God's grace, and then going on to sanctification - to living the holy life He calls us to, by the Spirit.
Be wary of Christian teaching that so emphasises God's mercy that it doesn't emphasise becoming like Christ. Be equally careful, of Christian teaching that so emphasises holiness that it doesn't emphasise God's mercy. It needs to be bot and not either/or.
One of my favourite verses in Scripture says "For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life" (1 Thessalonians 4:7). Yes, we're called to freedom from impurity, and fullness of the holy life. Like Oswald Chambers, let sanctification be a great passion for you! In the end, that's the great aim of the Christian life: being more like Christ, the holiest one of all.
Oswald Chambers believed we should give our utmost effort for God's highest glory, not to earn salvation but to honour the One who has already saved us. Consider today whether you're giving your utmost effort to live a life that glorifies God.