Certainty is the mark of the commonsense life-gracious uncertainty is the mark of the spiritual life.
Service is the overflow which pours from a life filled with love and devotion. But strictly speaking, there is no call to that. Service is what I bring to the relationship and is the reflection of my identification with the nature of God.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Service arises naturally from a loving and devoted life, reflecting one's connection to God.
In this quote, Oswald Chambers emphasizes that true service comes from a heart filled with love and devotion, suggesting that genuine acts of service are an overflow of one's inner state. He argues that service is not merely an obligation but a reflection of one's relationship with the divine, highlighting the importance of cultivating a meaningful connection with God in order to offer authentic service to others.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
In a community center speech about volunteerism, you could say, 'As Oswald Chambers wisely noted, service is the overflow which pours from a life filled with love and devotion.'
More from Oswald Chambers
All quotes →Never make the blunder of trying to forecast the way God is going to answer your prayer.
When we preach the love of God there is a danger of forgetting that the Bible reveals not first the love of God but the intense, blazing holiness of God, with His love at the center of that holiness.
It is much easier to do something than to trust in God; we mistake panic for inspiration.
Service is the overflow which pours from a life filled with love and devotion.
Prayer is the vital breath of the Christian; not the thing that makes him alive, but the evidence that he is alive.
Similar quotes
If we do not lay out ourselves in the service of mankind whom should we serve?
And in my own life, in my own small way, I've tried to give back to this country that has given me so much. That's why I left a job at a law firm for a career in public service, working to empower young people to volunteer in their communities. Because I believe that each of us - no matter what our age or background or walk of life - each of us has something to contribute to the life of this nation.
There's a lot of projection that if you're in service then you shouldn't look good. I'm no different from anybody else. I like clothes, I like shoes, I like to go have nice dinners, I like to dance. Just because I've dedicated myself to serving women, why do you think I need to sacrifice myself?
Missionaries serve to make life better for God's children.
I declare before you all that my whole life, whether it be long or short, shall be devoted to your service and the service of our great imperial family to which we all belong.
Service which is rendered without joy helps neither the servant nor the served. But all other pleasures and possessions pale into nothingness before service which is rendered in a spirit of joy.