This is part of my year-long series exploring human-centered alternatives to the spiritual promises in Oswald Chambers’ classic devotional My Utmost for His Highest. Today’s entry, “Undisturbed Relationship”, claims that through spiritual baptism and union with Christ, believers achieve an “undisturbed relationship” with God where they become “one with his sovereign will” and whatever they ask will be given because their nature has merged with Christ’s nature.
Here’s a different approach:
Marcus had always struggled with his relationship with his father. As a corporate lawyer, he’d built his career on winning arguments, but every conversation with Dad felt like a loss. His father, a retired mechanic, saw the world in practical terms—fix what’s broken, work with your hands, help your neighbors. Marcus lived in abstractions—contracts, strategies, billable hours.
The tension came to a head when Dad was diagnosed with early-stage Parkinson’s. Marcus immediately researched the best specialists, the most advanced treatments, the cutting-edge clinical trials. But when he presented his findings, Dad just shook his head. “I don’t need a team of doctors in white coats, son. I need to know you’ll still want to spend time with me when I can’t hold a wrench steady.”
That conversation shattered something in Marcus. Not through divine intervention, but through finally hearing what his father was actually saying.
Over the following months, Marcus started showing up differently. Instead of bringing research papers, he brought his hands. They worked together in Dad’s garage, fixing neighbors’ lawn mowers and bicycles. Marcus was terrible at it initially, but Dad was patient. They talked while they worked—about Mom’s death ten years earlier, about Marcus’s divorce, about fear and pride and love.
The undisturbed relationship Marcus found wasn’t mystical union but mutual understanding built through shared time and honest conversation. He learned to ask different questions—not “What do you need me to research?” but “What do you need from me?” Not “How can I fix this?” but “How can I be present with you?”
When Dad’s symptoms progressed, Marcus didn’t pray for miraculous intervention. Instead, he arranged his work schedule to visit twice a week. He learned to anticipate his father’s needs not through spiritual intuition but through careful attention. Their relationship became undisturbed not because it was perfect, but because it was finally authentic.
Reflection Question: When have you found deeper connection through listening and presence rather than trying to fix or control a relationship?
This story is part of my upcoming book “The Undevoted: Daily Departures from Divine Dependence,” which offers 365 human-centered alternatives to the spiritual certainties in Chambers’ devotional. Each day explores how reason, community, and human resilience can address life’s challenges without requiring divine intervention.
God or Delusion? 