The Impoverished Ministry of Jesus
By Oswald Chambers
“The well is deep” — and even a great deal deeper than the Samaritan woman knew! (John 4:11).
Think of the depths of human nature and human life; think of the depth
of the “wells” in you. Have you been limiting, or impoverishing, the
ministry of Jesus to the point that He is unable to work in your life?
Suppose that you have a deep “well” of hurt and trouble inside your
heart, and Jesus comes and says to you, “Let not your heart be
troubled…” (John 14:1).
Would your response be to shrug your shoulders and say, “But, Lord, the
well is too deep, and even You can’t draw up quietness and comfort out
of it.” Actually, that is correct. Jesus doesn’t bring anything up from
the wells of human nature— He brings them down from above. We limit the
Holy One of Israel by remembering only what we have allowed Him to do
for us in the past, and also by saying, “Of course, I cannot expect God
to do this particular thing.” The thing that approaches the very limits
of His power is the very thing we as disciples of Jesus ought to believe
He will do. We impoverish and weaken His ministry in us the moment we
forget He is almighty. The impoverishment is in us, not in Him. We will
come to Jesus for Him to be our comforter or our sympathizer, but we
refrain from approaching Him as our Almighty God.
The reason some of us are such poor examples of Christianity is that we have failed to recognize that Christ is almighty. We have Christian attributes and experiences, but there is no abandonment or surrender to Jesus Christ. When we get into difficult circumstances, we impoverish His ministry by saying, “Of course, He can’t do anything about this.” We struggle to reach the bottom of our own well, trying to get water for ourselves. Beware of sitting back, and saying, “It can’t be done.” You will know it can be done if you will look to Jesus. The well of your incompleteness runs deep, but make the effort to look away from yourself and to look toward Him.
The reason some of us are such poor examples of Christianity is that we have failed to recognize that Christ is almighty. We have Christian attributes and experiences, but there is no abandonment or surrender to Jesus Christ. When we get into difficult circumstances, we impoverish His ministry by saying, “Of course, He can’t do anything about this.” We struggle to reach the bottom of our own well, trying to get water for ourselves. Beware of sitting back, and saying, “It can’t be done.” You will know it can be done if you will look to Jesus. The well of your incompleteness runs deep, but make the effort to look away from yourself and to look toward Him.
share this devotional with a friend
Wisdom From Oswald Chambers
We must keep ourselves in touch, not
with theories, but with people, and never get out of touch with human
beings, if we are going to use the word of God skilfully amongst them. Workmen of God, 1341 L
