Perhaps no other Christian writer can say so much with so few words as Oswald Chambers. Perhaps that is why “My Utmost for His Highest” has been continuously in print since 1935 and seems to always be in the top 10 of all religious book lists.
There are updated, revised, and “modern English” versions of this daily devotion book, but if you read his 1935 edition (the one that makes you stop and think about every sentence), you know that Chambers was not one for many words (or at least his wife, who took exact notes of his lectures, did not record many words). Yet, what he has to say with a few words can be elaborated, meditated, and commented on with 100’s of words. You don’t read Chambers quickly and move on. You have to stop and extract the deep meaning he intended.
That is why it struck me as so odd when in today’s reading, Chambers actually repeats a word in a sentence. Very unusual. There must be a reason.
In commenting on Matthew 5.23-24 (leave your offering at the altar and go reconcile with your brother), Chambers says:
“It is easy to imagine that we will get to a place where we are complete and ready, but preparation is not suddenly accomplished, it is a process steadily maintained. It is dangerous to get into a settled state of experience. It is preparation and preparation.”
Wow, he thinks that offering a sacrifice takes a lot of preparation. And just when you think you are ready, it takes even more preparation.
Just when you think you’ve got it all figured out, there’s more work to do. Just when you think you’ve given everything there is to give to God, you find more to give. Just when you think you are ready to live that perfect life before God, you need more preparation.
In other words, you can’t be “too prepared” to enter God’s presence. He is holy, we are not. We do not “arrive” at a state of holiness. We are always preparing for it.
I’m just thankful for the grace God affords in the midst of our preparations.
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