Here’s what I read this week in My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers:

The apostle Paul had a strong and steady underlying consistency in his life.  Consequently, he could let his external life change without internal distress because he was rooted and grounded in God.  Most of us are not consistent spiritually because we are more concerned about being consistent externally.  In the eternal expression of things, Paul lived in the basement, while his critics lived on the upper level…but Paul’s consistency was deep down in the fundamentals.  The great basis of his consistency was the agony of God in the redemption of the world, namely, the Cross of Christ.

How true is this for you? It certainly applies to me.  One of the qualities I strive to develop in my character is consistency.  I think so many Christians appear to have consistency in their external lives because they have comfortable North American lifestyles that require no risk or faith in God to make it through the day.  But I also know some Christians who have seemingly chaotic external consistency (ie. foster parents, missionaries who give up their ‘careers’ or retirement plans to move halfway across the world).  Yet they are the ones who demonstrate internal consistency in the fundamentals that actually matter.

I want to be consistent spiritually.  Even if it means my life might look inconsistent externally.  What do you want?  How are you getting there?

Michelle