This remarkable book by Oswald Chambers is one that I highly recommend everyone to read. It is a day-by-day devotional that has everything to do with Christ, the Bible, and the Christian life.
The devo for January 31st is called "Do you see your calling?" Oswald writes, "And as long as our eyes are focused on our own personal holiness, we will never even get close to the full reality of redemption." The idea is that our calling is to proclaim the gospel of God. "The one all-important thing is that the gospel of God should be recognized as the abiding reality. Reality is not human goodness, or holiness, or heaven, or hell - it is redemption. [...] Christian workers fail because they place their desire for their own holiness above their desire to know God. [...] God cannot deliver me while my interest is merely in my own character."
Chambers uses Paul as an example of one who was unconcerned with his own life. "He was recklessly abandoned, totally surrendered, and separated by God for one purpose - to proclaim the gospel of God." We cannot be effective proclaimers if we are navel gazing and trying to make ourselves better. It is when we have given ourselves up to Christ that we can be gospel-proclaimers.
This doesn't mean we go to the other extreme and forget that we are sinners in need of a Savior. It simply means that we don't get bogged down in ourselves. By focusing outward on our Savior, we are better witnesses, both internally and externally. I was convicted by that. I compare myself a lot to other Christians who are more saintly than I am. I wish to achieve that holiness through myself rather than let Christ do His good work in me.
