The Distraction of Contempt

This is from My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers (11/23):

"Have mercy on us, O Lord, have mercy on us! For we are exceedingly filled with contempt." (Psalm 123:3)

"What we must beware of is not damage to our belief in God but damage to our Christian disposition or state of mind. 'Take heed to your spirit, that you do not deal treacherously' (Malachi 2:16). Our state of mind is powerful in its effects. It can be the enemy that penetrates right into certain attitudes we should never dare to indulge. If we do, we will find they have distracted us from faith in God. Until we get back into a quiet mood before Him, our faith is of no value, and our confidence in the flesh and in human ingenuity is what rules our lives.

Beware of 'the cares of the world...' (Mark 4:19). They are the very things that produce the wrong attitudes in our soul. It is incredible what enormous power there is in simple things to distract our attention away from God. Refuse to be swamped by the 'cares of this world.'

Another thing that distracts us is our passion for vindication. St. Augustine prayed, 'O Lord, deliver me from this lust of always vindicating myself.' Such a need for constant vindication destroys our soul's faith in God. Don't say, 'I must explain myself,' or 'I must get people to understand.' Our Lord never explained anything--He left the misunderstandings or misconceptions of others to correct themselves.

When we discern that other people are not growing spiritually and allow that discernment to turn to criticism, we block our fellowship with God. God never gives us discernment so that we may criticize, but that we may intercede."

God speaks to me through this book so often, but this one really hit home. Although there are several lessons jammed into this one page, each one struck me right where I'm at. I don't know how many times I've read it since Nov 23rd, but it's been a lot! Too bad reading it doesn't automatically change me! Anyway, I thought I'd share it with you. My advice is to read it way more than once to capture all of what it says. I'm pretty sure I still haven't captured it all.