Quotes taken from David McCasland’s “The Quotable Oswald Chambers”
AGONY AGONY AGONY
Agony means severe suffering in which something dies – either the base thing, or the good. No man is the same after an agony; he is either better or worse, and the agony of a man’s experience is nearly always the first thing that opens his mind to understand the need of Redemption worked out by Jesus Christ…. The Shadow of an Agony, 1161 R
To those who have had no agony Jesus says, “I have nothing for you; stand on your own feet, square your own shoulders. I have come for the man who knows he has a bigger handful than he can cope with, who knows there are forces he cannot touch; I will do everything for him if he will let Me. Only let a man grant he needs me, and I will do it for him.” The Shadow of Agony, 1166 R
“Through the shadow of an agony comes Redemption.” The majority of us thus far today have lived our lives untouched by an agony; but in future conquest, war, famine, sword, pestilence or plague, the chances are that all are hit somewhere, and it is through a personal agony that a man is likely to begin to understand what the New Testament reveals. The Shadow of an Agony, 1174 L
Discipleship Discipleship Discipleship
We don’t go in for making disciples to-day, it takes too long; we are all for passionate evangelism – taken up with adding to the statistics of “saved souls,” adding to denominational membership, taken up with things which show splendid success. Jesus Christ took the long, long trail – “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself” – “ Take time to make up your mind .” Men were not to be swept into the Kingdom on tidal waves of evangelism, not to have their wits paralyzed by supernatural means; they were to come deliberately, knowing what they were doing. One life straight through to God on the ground of discipleship is more satisfactory in His sight than numbers who are saved but go no further. Conformed to His Image, 346 R
God saves men; we are sent out to present Jesus Christ and His Cross, and to disciple the souls He saves. The reason we do not make disciples is that we are not disciples our ourselves; we are out for our own ends. So Send I You, 1301 L