Abandoning All
“When the voice of Love calls, abandon the boat and swim toward the shore.”
Based on “Abandoning All” by Oswald Chambers (My Utmost for His Highest, Modern Classic Edition)
Photo credit: Unsplash
In this stirring entry, Oswald Chambers brings us to the quiet but deeply personal shoreline of surrender. Using Peter's impulsive leap into the sea at the sound of Jesus’ voice (John 21:7), he asks us to consider whether we have truly and deliberately abandoned all to Christ—not just in outward behavior, but in the inner territory of the will. Chambers is not advocating for impulsive, emotionally driven acts of faith. Instead, he presses into the deeper act of volitional surrender—the kind of decision that is not necessarily accompanied by emotion but is rooted in trust and obedience.
He exposes the possibility that external "giving up" may be more about self-constructed holiness than actual yielding to God. Real abandonment is not proven by the things we leave behind, but by the Person we run toward. Like Peter, Chambers calls us to recognize the voice of Christ in our daily lives and respond not with hesitation, but with reckless, joyful abandon—diving headlong into the sea of fellowship with our risen Lord.
The central point is this: Don’t wait for your feelings to catch up. Act. Respond. Abandon yourself to Christ not just in thought or doctrine or aspiration—but in motion. Leap from the boat.
Journal Entry — In the Voice of the Holy Spirit
You heard My voice again this morning, calling softly from the shore of your heart. I never shout from a distance. I call from near, though sometimes it sounds distant only because you are drifting. But the moment you recognize My voice, I am as close as the air you breathe. And when you leap from your routines—yes, even the ones dressed in religious garb—and swim toward Me, I delight in your abandonment.
You have been planted into the likeness of Christ's death, not so you could remain buried, but so you would walk in resurrection life. This is not a life of calculated self-denial or grim determination, but of reckless love. I did not call you to merely tidy up the old man; I called you to embrace the new creation you already are. My call is not toward holier performance, but toward deeper union.
When I ask, “Have you any fish?” it is not because I don’t know the answer. It is because I want you to recognize your emptiness without Me. I am the abundance at the end of your striving, the fire waiting on the shore while you labor in your own strength. Let go of your nets—those entanglements of pride, of proving, of performing. Dive in. Swim hard. You already know the sound of My voice. You don’t need to analyze it anymore. You don’t need permission to come closer. You already have it.
I am not the one requiring consistency; I am the one giving you Myself. Maintain your relationship with Me, not through resolve, but through response. Fix your eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of your faith. I planted you in death, and I raise you in resurrection. Let the wind carry off your creeds and convictions if they keep you from the shore. Let Me carry you instead.
John 21:4–7, Romans 6:4–5, Hebrews 12:2, 2 Corinthians 5:17
Prayer
Lord, You’ve called me to something far more vibrant than tidy moralism. I thank You that Your voice speaks not to demand more performance but to invite me into deeper fellowship. I recognize now that You are always near, even when I’ve been toiling in vain. I choose today to abandon every self-sourced effort and respond to Your call—not someday, but now. I trust You to live Your life through me in this moment, and I embrace the freedom of diving headlong into relationship with You, where joy replaces striving and resurrection replaces effort. Amen.