Certainty is the mark of the commonsense life-gracious uncertainty is the mark of the spiritual life.
God makes us as broken bread and poured-out wine to please Him. Beware of competing calls once the call of God grips you.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote emphasizes the idea of self-sacrifice and devotion to a higher purpose, cautioning against distractions that can divert one from their divine calling.
Oswald Chambers' quote reflects the notion that individuals are crafted through their experiences and sacrifices, much like bread and wine are prepared and shared. In this metaphor, being 'broken' symbolizes the process of growth through challenges, while 'poured-out' signifies giving oneself fully to a purpose greater than oneself. The second part warns about the need for focus and commitment to spiritual calling, as various distractions can lead one away from fulfilling their divine purpose.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
In a sermon about faith, you can use this quote to inspire congregants to prioritize their spiritual journey.
More from Oswald Chambers
All quotes βNever make the blunder of trying to forecast the way God is going to answer your prayer.
Service is the overflow which pours from a life filled with love and devotion. But strictly speaking, there is no call to that. Service is what I bring to the relationship and is the reflection of my identification with the nature of God.
When we preach the love of God there is a danger of forgetting that the Bible reveals not first the love of God but the intense, blazing holiness of God, with His love at the center of that holiness.
It is much easier to do something than to trust in God; we mistake panic for inspiration.
Service is the overflow which pours from a life filled with love and devotion.
Similar quotes
Commit a crime, and the earth is made of glass.
It takes two to make a murder. There are born victims, born to have their throats cut, as the cut-throats are born to be hanged.
Strictly speaking, there is no such thing as an enlightened person. There is only enlightened activity.
The man who only loves beautiful things is dreaming, whereas the man who knows absolute beauty is wide awake.
A society that is not willing to demand a life of somebody who has taken somebody elseβs life is simply immoral.
We need a certain amount of energy to produce the sound. But then to sustain it, we have to give more energy, or otherwise, it goes and it dies in silence. And therefore, sound is absolutely, inextricably connected to time, the length of time.