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December 10, 2007
THE OFFERING OF THE NATURAL
Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other
by a freewoman.
Galatians 4:22
http://www.SearchGodsWord.org/desk/?query=ga+4:22&sr=1
Paul is not dealing with sin in this chapter of Galatians, but with
the relation of the natural to the spiritual. The natural must be
turned into the spiritual by sacrifice, otherwise a tremendous
divorce will be produced in the actual life. Why should God ordain
the natural to be sacrificed? God did not. It is not God's order, but
His permissive will. God's order was that the natural should be
transformed into the spiritual by obedience; it is sin that made it
necessary for the natural to be sacrificed.
Abraham had to offer up Ishmael before he offered up Isaac. Some of
us are trying to offer up spiritual sacrifices to God before we have
sacrificed the natural. The only way in which we can offer a
spiritual sacrifice to God is by presenting our bodies a living
sacrifice. Sanctification means more than deliverance from sin, it
means the deliberate commitment of myself whom God has saved to God,
and that I do not care what it costs.
If we do not sacrifice the natural to the spiritual, the natural life
will mock at the life of the Son of God in us and produce a continual
swither. This is always the result of an undisciplined spiritual
nature. We go wrong because we stubbornly refuse to discipline
ourselves, physically, morally or mentally. "I wasn't disciplined
when I was a child." You must discipline yourself now. If you do not,
you will ruin the whole of your personal life for God.
God is not with our natural life while we pamper it; but when we put
it out in the desert and resolutely keep it under, then God will be
with it; and He will open up wells and oases, and fulfill all His
promises for the natural.
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MY UTMOST FOR HIS HIGHEST - by Oswald Chambers /\/\
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