Walking the Walk (in love)

I have been reading a biography of Oswald Chambers and I am impressed by the impact of a person who loves and lives for Jesus can have on others.  It is evident God uses people to spurn others on to greater works for Christ and faith in Him--for generations to come.  Throughout scripture, the annals of history and in our personal experiences we have encountered people with whom we connect because in Christ we share in common regenerated hearts, eyes once blind that now see and renewed minds by God's revelation.  I appreciated this paragraph from Oswald Chambers: Abandoned to God:

"With all his emphasis on truth, Oswald was never content to affect the mind alone.  His goal was to stir the will to act on sound principles of Scripture, so that people might demonstrate the love of Christ.  He looked intently at his eager, earnest students, ready to go out and battle for the truth, then read from Dr. Alexander Whyte's exposition of Job:  "Oh, the unmitigated curse of controversy!  Oh the detestable passions that corrections and contradictions kindle up to fury in the proud heart of man!  Eschew controversy, my brethren, as you would eschew the entrance to hell itself!  Let them have it their own way.  Let them talk, let them write, let them correct you, let them traduce you.  Let them judge and condemn you, let them slay you.  Rather let the truth of God itself suffer than that love suffer.  You have not enough of the Divine nature in you to be a controversialist."  (McCasland, David. Oswald Chambers: Abandoned to God ; the Life Story of the Author of My Utmost for His Highest. Discovery House Pub., 1993. page 107)

What a great example this is!  Dr. Alexander Whyte wrote an exposition on Job and held forth observations applied practically to life by the divine truth revealed in holy writ.  Oswald Chambers read words that resonated with the truth he knew, and he passed on the wisdom to his impressionable students who would benefit from restraint concerning wading into controversies.  David McCasland chose to include this paragraph in the autobiography he wrote that I am reading, and now I have shared it with whoever reads this post.  Many have talked a good game, but how good and profitable it is to consider and take to heart the wisdom of those who "walk the walk" with Christ in love.

Those who hold to the truth can doubtless fall into the trap of believing it is more important to correct others who err than to prioritise walking in God's wisdom and truth ourselves.  The Pharisees embraced this role with relish, all the while condemned by Jesus for hypocrisy.  They were quick to criticise those who ignored their traditions of men they taught as commands of God:  they wiped the outside of the cup while the inside was filled with filth and uncleanness.  I love what Jesus said when He was told the Pharisees were offended by His remarks in Matthew 15:14:  "Let them alone. They are blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind leads the blind, both will fall into a ditch."  It is not that Jesus did not care about the religious rulers, for the Good Shepherd is pleased to pull wandering sheep from a ditch; He is able to open the eyes of those born blind--and He does when such cry out to Him in faith.