The Law of Opposition

[Turbopun]

December 4, 2008

The Law of Opposition - by Oswald Chambers

To him who overcomes . . . —Revelation 2:7

Life without war is impossible in the natural or the supernatural realm. It is a fact that there is a continuing struggle in the physical, mental, moral, and spiritual areas of life.

Health is the balance between the physical parts of my body and all the things and forces surrounding me. To maintain good health I must have sufficient internal strength to fight off the things that are external. Everything outside my physical life is designed to cause my death. The very elements that sustain me while I am alive work to decay and disintegrate my body once it is dead. If I have enough inner strength to fight, I help to produce the balance needed for health. The same is true of the mental life. If I want to maintain a strong and active mental life, I have to fight. This struggle produces the mental balance called thought.

Morally it is the same. Anything that does not strengthen me morally is the enemy of virtue within me. Whether I overcome, thereby producing virtue, depends on the level of moral excellence in my life. But we must fight to be moral. Morality does not happen by accident; moral virtue is acquired.

And spiritually it is also the same. Jesus said, "In the world you will have tribulation . . ." ( John 16:33 ). This means that anything which is not spiritual leads to my downfall. Jesus went on to say, ". . . but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." I must learn to fight against and overcome the things that come against me, and in that way produce the balance of holiness. Then it becomes a delight to meet opposition.

Holiness is the balance between my nature and the law of God as expressed in Jesus Christ.

 

[jiggyfly]

Life without war is impossible in the natural or the supernatural realm. It is a fact that there is a continuing struggle in the physical, mental, moral, and spiritual areas of life.

This is possibly an example of error with someone editing an author's writings into a condensed form for devotional. I hope the author's full thought or teaching is not expressed here because it is contrary to the scriptures and the HolySpirit.

Philippians 2:6-11
Though he was God, he did not demand and cling to his rights as God. He made himself nothing; [fn] he took the humble position of a slave and appeared in human form. And in human form he obediently humbled himself even further by dying a criminal's death on a cross. Because of this, God raised him up to the heights of heaven and gave him a name that is above every other name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

I must learn to fight against and overcome the things that come against me, and in that way produce the balance of holiness. Then it becomes a delight to meet opposition.

Holiness is the balance between my nature and the law of God as expressed in Jesus Christ.

Here again it seems that the author is propigating self works, knowledge and power to produce self holiness. Once again this is contrary to the scriptures and the HolySpirit.

Colossians 1:19-23

For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ, and by him God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of his blood on the cross. This includes you who were once so far away from God. You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions,
yet now he has brought you back as his friends. He has done this through his death on the cross in his own human body. As a result, he has brought you into the very presence of God, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault. But you must continue to believe this truth and stand in it firmly. Don't drift away from the assurance you received when you heard the Good News. The Good News has been preached all over the world, and I, Paul, have been appointed by God to proclaim it.

 

[Turbopun]

Hey Jiggy,


I am not quite sure I understand what you are trying to say in point #1. Can you expand on it some? From what I see, the writer is just stating that we are in a struggle. I take Romans 8:7 from it actually.

On point #2, I don't think he is promoting the works to obtain righteousness. Especially if you read the other devotionals, the main thing he writes against is trying to obtain a standing before God by anything that we can do. I think more than anything what Chambers is trying to say is that we have a responsibility in our holiness. (Hebrews 12:14 NIV)

For example, take a farmer. In order for a farmer to produce a yield on a crop, he has to do his part and God has his part as well. The farmer has to plant his seeds, water them, plow, etc. Yet he is dependent on God for the sunshine and other elements. Together the farmer and God bring forth a harvest. It's not that God can't do something, its that He won't do certain things because He wants us to to do them. I think that is what the writer is portraying here.

Though I of course fully believe in Colossians 1:19-23 and don't know what I could do without His blood, I have to also look to Romans 6:1-2. Colossians 1:19-23 is looking at our "sin" problem. The Father when He looks at us, doesn't even see us. He sees the His Son's Blood covering us as the righteous requirement of the law. We are free! So we can do anything we want right? No way. Thats where Romans 6:1-2 comes in. We have a responsibility to walk in obedience in accordance to the Spirit. We have things we have to do. Can they be legalistic? Oh yea. I do not thing the writer is saying that at all though.

Though I disagree with your point of view, I can see where you are coming from for sure.


In Him,
Turbo


*edited for clarity at 9:28am*

 

[jiggyfly]

Hey Turbo, I enjoy much of Oswald's writings, which is why I stated in my post that it is possibly the person who edited this devotion left it very vague. When one looks at just the devotional you posted it states that "Life without war is impossible". But again this doesn't line up with scripture. All things are possible with God. So in light of the scriptures, "life without war is impossible" just is not true. Jesus is the Tree of Life. Is Jesus without war impossible?

I must learn to fight against and overcome the things that come against me, and in that way produce the balance of holiness. Then it becomes a delight to meet opposition.

Holiness is a product of Him and not of ourselves.

 

[Turbopun]

Hey Turbo, I enjoy much of Oswald's writings, which is why I stated in my post that it is possibly the person who edited this devotion left it very vague. When one looks at just the devotional you posted it states that "Life without war is impossible". But again this doesn't line up with scripture. All things are possible with God. So in light of the scriptures, "life without war is impossible" just is not true. Jesus is the Tree of Life. Is Jesus without war impossible?

Oh, ok. I see where you are coming from now. You are looking at the word "life" in a different context than what I see it meaning. I view the way it was meant in context was the every day nitty gritty kind of life. Not Jesus who is the Tree of Life kind of life. Thanks for explaining.

Holiness is a product of Him and not of ourselves.

I agree with this and disagree. In the sense that I do agree, it is Christ's blood that was shed that met the righteous requirement of the law for us that makes us Holy before God.

I believe there is also a second perspective, if you will, of holiness. It is in the walk that we have. Is our walk Holy or is it carnal?

We are Holy before God because of what Christ did on the Cross. That doesn't mean by default we walk a holy life. Enoch walked a holy life and was swept away to heaven without seeing death. Yet we also have the capacity to walk in our fleshly desires. (2 Peter 2:17-19 ESV)

As far as our standing, we are Holy solely from Christ and not for anything we have done.

(Hebrews 12:14 NIV) tells us to pursue holiness though. To pursue means chase after. It can easily get legalistic, but legalism is avoided when Jesus is our sole treasure and the only place that we get our real satisfaction from.

As Jerry Bridges says in his book in reference to (Hebrews 12:14 NIV), "The Pursuit of Holiness", "... the pursuit of holiness is a joint venture between God and the Christian. No one can attain any degree of holiness without God working in his life, but just as surely no one will attain it without effort on his own part. God has made it possible for us to walk in holiness. But He has given to us the responsibility of doing the walking; He does not do that for us."

Up front, I of course do not hold any book above scripture nor do I count this book as canon. But, I do think the author states a good point regarding what God is responsible for and what we are responsible for. God is always faithful, praise Him, which means we are on the other end responsible as well. When we follow God and obey Him, holiness blooms.

*EDIT* Just to clarify, I hope that I have not said anything that promotes effort on our part by ourselves. I believe that the only way for us to walk a holy life is for the Son to live through us since we are dead already and crucified with Him. Apart from Jesus, we cant do ANYTHING good in the Lord's eyes. Not one thing. (John 15:5 ESV) That way when we do make decisions and act in a holy way, we get NO credit. All glory goes directly to God. Just the way its suppose to be =)