"Christian Service is the greatest enemy of the Christian life"

I've just finished reading Kate Grenville's The Secret River.  It tells the fictional story of William Thornhill, transported from the slums of London to Sydney in 1806.  

Thornhill always aspired to the status of gentry and worked hard to establish himself, eventually securing land on the Hawkesbury River.  The story explores early relationships with the indigenous people and the conflict and massacres that occurred out of a failure to understand different cultures and ways of living.  At one point, Thornhill, on his way to fulfilling his dream of being "gentry" in his new land, observes that the indigenous people already behave like gentry.  They have all they need and appear to be at ease,  without having to work hard to be content.

At the same time, I was skim reading Mark Virkler's Dialogue with God and came across this quote from Oswald Chambers: "Christian service is the greatest enemy of the Christian life."  We need to be aware of our tendency to assume so much responsibility for accomplishing God's work that we begin to lose our peace and rest in Him.

Is it possible that our pace of life, our drivenness to achieve, and the role of technology and complex communication systems all conspire to take us away from the simplicity of contentment that comes from relationships in the midst of the natural rhythms of life?

Comments

[Stephen]

An interesting reflection, David. I certainly think that we constantly find ourselves at risk of being beholden to the insidious agenda of "human progress" and its search for autonomy.

Though, I have to admit that my initial reading of the Chambers quote was that "Christian service", meaning what we commonly refer to as "ministry", may well detract from the ideal nature and key tasks of Christian living! That is, that Christian living is best when done in the midst of everyday life.

[beth]

Sometimes I think the exhortation to 'live what we believe' is pointless. Rather, we can tell what we really beleive by looking at how we live.

Also I wonder what 'Christian Service' is if it not the christian life lived for others. Chambers himself engaged fully in a life of service of others which I admire greatly. His wife was no small contributor to the effectiveness of his ministry. They are great mentors for team ministry couples. His work addressed the practical needs of distance, hospitality, engaged with the war on a pastoral, ethical and evangelical level. The link below includes an image of Chambers' 'Study Hut' with the troops in Egypt showing a poster advertising a session called 'religious problems raised by the war'. This is amazing! And look at the hours he was available to the men as chaplain.
I think the hint in Chambers' bio and this image is that there is no conflict between christian service and christian life - they are integrated, as you say Steve 'in the midst'.

http://www.oswaldchambers.co.uk/Oswald_and_Biddy_Chambers.html