APPROVED UNTO GOD: A 21st Century Update of Oswald Chambers

Best known for My Utmost for His Highest, Chambers left behind a body of teaching devoted to serious Christian discipleship. Approved Unto God speaks especially to Christians who desire to become faithful workers for God—men and women who are not satisfied merely to be active in Christian service but want their lives, character, thinking, and ministry to receive God’s approval.

THIS IS NOT A REPRINT OF OSWALD CHAMBERS’ ORIGINAL WORK.

More than a century separates today’s Christian reader from the world in which Chambers taught. Although the spiritual force of his message remains valuable, many of his expressions, illustrations, and assumptions belong to another era. This edition therefore presents Approved Unto God as a 21st-century update, preserving the seriousness and directness of Chambers’ teaching while substantially revising the language, explanations, applications, and biblical discussion for contemporary Christians.

The central concern remains unchanged: What does God look for in a genuine Christian worker? The chapters address building one’s life on a sound spiritual foundation, maintaining spiritual strength amid demanding Christian activity, studying Scripture for genuine transformation, aligning one’s life with the will of God, continuing to grow as a lifelong disciple, examining one’s spiritual condition, developing Christian maturity, avoiding spiritual burnout, fulfilling the Great Commission, handling Scripture accurately, recognizing false teaching, and enduring faithfully to the end. These emphases reflect the scope of the updated volume itself.

Wherever possible, Chambers’ searching and challenging spirit has been retained. Yet the purpose of this edition is not simply to preserve the language of the past. It is to bring the biblical concerns that drove Chambers into clear focus for Christians living and serving today.

My prayer is that Approved Unto God will help readers become more serious students of Scripture, more discerning Christians, more faithful workers, and more determined disciples of Jesus Christ—Christians whose greatest concern is not merely accomplishing much, but standing before God as workers approved by Him.