Reflections on the life and witness of Dawson Trotman: a man of God (Part 1)

I’ve been reading this wonderful book that my friend Steve encouraged and gave to me to read, called “Daws: A man who trusted God” by Betty Lee Skinner. The book starts slowly, but as you get into this man’s mind, the man who started a global movement called The Navigators, through the thoughtfully written words of Skinner, you cannot help but yearn to be like him. It’s so challenged me in very practical ways at very timely moments over the last month or so that I’ve journeyed in reading it. Here I will share some of the things that have challenged me personally (though there are just too many things to put in this one post!). My hope and prayer is that you’ll be compelled to buy this book or ask to borrow it from me (as my friend Jayne and I have now gotten a few copies so that we can lend it to others!) and read it yourself!

1. “He fervently wished to be a useable instrument in the Lord’s work – that wonderful work of winning souls. With this goal in mind, prayer was power, not a ritual; he would discipline himself to pray, whether the inclination was there or not…he was learning that discipline insured his obedience, serving as bridge between knowing what he should do and doing it without fail.” (p. 51)

Fervent and devoted prayer and discipline. These two things are so evident throughout Dawson’s life since he became a Christian, and they increasing became so. Like the men who did great things in Jesus’ name like Hudson Taylor, Dawson became convinced that they were able to be involved in these great things because they were committed first and foremost to prayer. Throughout the book, Dawson personally pushes himself to get up at 4am, 5am to pray for a few hours before getting into the things of the day. There are instances in his journal where this is evident: “Slept till 7 o’clock (shame). Because of this I must begin the day with but a few minutes of prayer. This is sin.” It might seem legalistic but as Skinner writes, Daws saw this as anything but! He saw discipline as the key to his obedience to Jesus. As I read, I learnt of how those many hours of devoted prayer were honoured by God as He moved in Dawson’s life to make his such an effective servant in later years. He himself became the answer to many of his prayers! I was so challenged by this. I’m not someone who can sit still for a very long time. I like to constantly be moving and doing things. But so did Dawson! And yet what a man of prayer! I’ve been challenged to start my mornings in patient prayer before the Lord because of Dawson’s example.

2. “Impressed by the example of man who prayed that might lead one person to Christ each month, then one each week, and finally one a day, Dawson tried it. Lord, let me win one soul for You each month. Then one soul a week. God answered…Touch a life a day for God.” (p. 55, 67)

Dawson’s determination in prayer was backed up by his determination to see things through, and visa versa. Because of this, I’ve been challenged to be more bold in prayer that God might show me how He can do great things if I just ask Him! The incredible story that follows on p. 67 of the book was so timely for me. I read it while I was feeling a bit discouraged over a ‘missed opportunity’ that day…

Dawson had just climbed into bed when he realized he had not talked to anyone about Christ. Well, what if he spoke to two tomorrow? It wouldn’t do, he decided. Rather than fail his week’s assignment, he dressed and clattered off into his Model-T to find a listener. After several miles he saw a man with a briefcase who had just missed the train to Long Beach, and Dawson offered him a ride. “You many not believe this, ” he began after introductions, “but I got out of bed to come down here. It’s a rule of my life never to end the day without sharing with someone the most wonderful thing in life. I am a Christian.” The passenger heard the story of God’s love in Christ, then said thoughtfully, “Son, twenty years ago I started to search for God. I’ve gone to church nearly every Sunday for twenty years. Tonight you have told me about what I’ve been looking for.” If going out to witness that night instead of the next day merely to check off his daily chart was legalistic, it was legalism in the providence of God, for the next day he would not likely have crossed the path of the man who that night ended his long search for peace with God.

I don’t know how you’re feeling but when I read this my heart was surprisingly at peace and filled with joy! I was at peace because I was encouraged by the sovereignty of God in this hitchhiker’s life, and I was filled with joy because the burden of that missed opportunity became a privilege for the future of opportunities. One thing I picked up which I want to practise more is Dawson’s frankness about his ‘agenda’ (for lack of a better word) – he did not hide the fact that he was seeking to evangelise this man! In fact, God used it for the conversation to become about spiritual things! Dawson’s openness to being used by God in witnessing was honoured by the Lord.

3. Dawson’s trust in God to allow him to give generously was met by God’s provision

This was something that deeply shaped the rest of Dawson’s life (as is evidenced throughout the rest of the book) in how he spent money and looked to the Lord for its provision. He used to be a chronic gambler before he became a Christian. The following shows how his relationship with Jesus changed his views on money…

A monthly subsidy from Miss Mills helped finance Dawson’s schooling and gave him extra time for ministry. For his occasional need when funds ran short, he determined to follow the example of George Muller and Hudson Taylor [read their biographies!!], trusting God to supply through prayer.

Two days later the decision was tested. Due to lead a boys club in Torrance, he needed carfare – forty cents for the train and ten cents for the connecting bus. He prayed, sticking to his resolve rather than asking one of his schoolmates for a quick loan. Eleven minutes before train departure time he started walking to the station. Dashing around the corner of the building, he met Mr. Hale, the superintendent of men, who tossed something into his coat pocket. Dawson dared not look until he was a block away. Then he reached into his pocket and there it was – a half-dollar engraved with the words “In God We Trust”!

He was overjoyed with the precision and timing of such answers, for they proved that the communication lines to an omnipotent God were both ways. At Biola [the bible college he was attending] and the adjoining Church of the Open Door, offerings were taken regularly for visiting missionary speakers. With just six dollars in his pocket and five dollars rent due at Biola next morning, Dawson reach into his pocket for the one-dollar bill. Or should he give the five and trust the Lord would provide for the missionary and Dawson should keep his five. After a brief struggle he gave it. Next morning before daylight he was up on the roof where he usually went to spend time with the Lord, and there lay a five-dollar bill He has caused someone to drop in Dawson’s path. His pre-Christian gambling held no thrill to match this. (pp. 57-58)

Skinner so thoughtfully captures these two anecdotes for our reflection! Wow! I felt very cut to the heart when I read this because at the time I give monthly direct debit donations to a few different causes and I saw the ever decreasing figures in my bank account as I had not gotten any work for a while. This led me to consider perhaps pulling back on my offerings in this way. However, when I read these pages, I was led to pray “Lord, if you want me to keep giving and to be generously doing so rather than thinking of myself first, please provide whatever you think I need.” And sure enough, soon rolled in my tax returns!

There are so many more things that I’d like to share, but will have to leave that for Part 2! I hope the above encourages or challenges you in some way to respond in faith as Dawson Trotman did! Would love to hear your thoughts 🙂

Created (to be) in God’s image

Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the ratty and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
– Genesis 1:26-27

I had an interesting (and very specific!) conversation with someone today about what it means to be created in God’s image and whether that in fact implies that we’re all God’s children, since we’re told in Genesis that we’re created (as mankind universally) in God’s image. I say ‘yes’ to this latter fact, but ‘no’ to the implication that we’re all God’s children and loved by him. It might seem harsh, but read on!

On the surface it might seem like being made in God’s image is about possessing certain characteristics of ‘God-likeness’ in our being as humans, e.g., ability to have emotions, think, etc. But in the context of Genesis chapters 1-2, I don’t think it’s saying that at all. And if you read the above verses carefully, the word ‘our’ is used by God: “in our image”, “after our likeness”. This indicates that there is something unique within the personhood of God himself that denotes this ‘image-bearing’ nature of humans.

Sarah Young puts it nicely and very clearly:

At the very least [At the core] it must mean that we can relate to him in a very unique way, unlike the rest of creation. God exists in loving relationship between the three persons of the Trinity (Father, Son and Holy Spirit)—the way he has made us to relate to one another reflects this. Also God is a ruler – we reflect his image in that we we created to rule this earth in his behalf, taking responsibility for its care.

Young here makes a few interesting and important points about what it means to be made in the image of God:
1. We were made to be in loving relationship with the three persons of God, as he is in perfect loving relationship with himself.
2. We were made to be relational with each other.
3. We were made to reflect his authority on earth as stewards of his creation, taking care of it on his behalf.

The implications of what these three things mean are wide, but I just want to focus on the first point. In other words, we’re hard-wired for relationship with our Creator. That is the fundamental point, the cornerstone, the be all end all, whatever expression you can add on to this, of what it means to be created in God’s image. But our sin—our rejection of God as the Creator, and as the king of our lives—means we don’t choose to fulfill our purpose! We choose to run our lives our own way, doing what we deem best, but all the time, we don’t gain the satisfaction that we seek and yearn for because we’re just not hard-wired to function that way. Call me dogmatic, but this is what God has to say about why we have screwed up as human beings, though there are facets of things that we are and do that are beautiful; don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that the physical world is evil because it isn’t. God created it and said it is good! But it is also tainted. Hopefully you’re getting the drift of this logic. All that remains to be said is: how can we be counted as God’s children if we reject to be so? How are we bearing God’s image if we’re severing all aspects of relating to him properly as our Creator and manager? Maybe you’re thinking ‘how have I said I’ve rejected him?’ Whether conscious or not, if we’re not letting the boss be our boss, but rather being our own bosses then it’s clear what we think about God’s place in our lives.

Being hard-wired a certain way doesn’t mean we’re robots. It means we would be optimally functioning if we lived in a way in line with the way we are hard-wired, but that means it is a choice. What do you choose? To be an image-bearer, as you were created to be, or to continue to seek to bear a self-made image?

On being a community church (Part 1)

I visited a church, with the intention of joining them long-term, on Sunday. It was quite a unique church with a beautiful vision that I believe is from God and aligns beautifully with his plans and purposes. You can visit their blog/site at cantrburychurchplant.wordpress.com. I was encouraged to read their vision statement to get a better sense of the bigger picture for why they exist as a church, and that definitely got lots of gears in my brain turning, and my heart pumping with excitement! (See their vision statement at: http://www.canterburychurchplant.com/our-vision.) I will explain why below.

I was very graciously invited to join them for lunch at Jonathan’s (the minister) home where I was greeted with lots of love and welcoming faces. There I met nearly almost the whole church, about 15 people, so it’s still early days for these brothers and sisters, but it seems like it’s started off with God’s behind it!

What makes this church so unique in my eyes is the fact that when they call themselves ‘Canterbury Community Church’, they really seek to be that! Unlike most community churches which have their beginnings in being a body of Christians who meet up on Sundays and live what can sometimes seem like separate lives during the week wherever they’re at, except for weekly bible studies, socials, etc., this church seeks to make the community their meeting point – instead of seeking to draw people to church, they seek to go to the people! And they really do! After lunch, they go door knocking and house visiting, seeking to establish relationships with neighbours. I got to visit an old couple with one of the team with whom they’ve been spending time with since establishing an initial relationship. I was surprised by how much this person knew about this couple’s life and their daily happenings, as we conversed. The conversations we had were generally ordinary, but I felt like we were having a relaxed catch up with old friend. In other words, it was a genuine relationship! I guess it was great for me to come in as a new guest, as it gave me an opportunity toshare a bit about my story and ask some intentional questions that would enable me to share some gospel bites. The beauty of it was that because there was an already established relationship with this couple, they didn’t shut the door in my face when I brought up something about Jesus. One of the guys on the team, Christian, said to me that he had always had negative experiences with door knocking, but since he joined this church, it has been very different. And I really got to see that for myself. It really made me think…do we as Sydney suburban Christians see our local neighbours as part of our personal community? As the community in which we seek to be a light for—and this is the important bit—as a church? If so, then how are we making them part of our personal community? I think Canterbury Community Church is seeking to answer this question by the way they have prioritised getting to know people and building relationships based on love for them.

More thoughts to come 🙂

Being a good steward = being generous?

This post is dedicated to Jayne Ling, who has been helping me think through how to live out these thoughts.

I haven’t blogged for so long that I feel like I never blogged before!  That’s not very good, is it?  Well, life does happen, and continues to do so…and there have been many times where I’ve had a ‘oooo I think this is something worth blogging about!’ moment, but then I reflect on it and can’t think of putting it into something substantial.  Anyway, I’ve been thinking about, hearing about, discussing with people and praying about something that people take for granted (at least I do).  If you’re a follower of Jesus, I encourage you to keep reading and am keen to hear what you think!  If you’re not, I hope you will keep reading too and that this will cause you to be thankful to the God who holds all things and to whom belongs all things.

Psalm number 24 verse 1 says: ‘The earth belongs to God and so does everything in it; the world belongs to God and so does all its people’.  This was the verse that we learnt in the children’s talk at Church today, and it’s been something that has very nicely summed up what I’ve been thinking about these last few weeks.  See, I started working again, helping a family home school their boy a few hours a week, and so a bit of cash is rolling into my bank account.  It suddenly became so ‘easy’ to spend money!  When you’ve got more of it, you’ve got more ‘freedom’ with how you spend it.  But I think there’s something much more profound in that than at first glance.  If everything does belong to God, then I have great cause to give thanks to Him that He gives me what I have right now!  What a great cause for celebration: God’s huge generosity in providing for me!  But there’s also a great challenge in that: if every does belong to God, then they don’t really belong to me.  They are His and I’m His steward of these things.

What does it mean for me to be a steward of things that belong to another?  Well, if you were an investor for a company, then your job is to work out how to use someone else’s money/possessions to gain them even more money/possessions that have the best ‘potential’ for more!  I don’t think this is far from what being a steward means, actually.  In fact, I think this is exactly what makes a good steward.  ‘Earning’ money has this weird effect – it makes me feel that I really did earn it and I’m therefore free to spend it however I want.  But following the king who ‘though he was rich, yet for [our] sake he became poor, so that [we] by his poverty might become rich’ (2 Corinthians 8:9) means my freedom really is freedom to spend in the service and way of my king!  Romans 8:17 says that we are heirs with Jesus (Imagine that!  I dare you!  To share in the glory that Jesus receives in his resurrection and ascension to the Father’s right hand…!) if we choose to suffer with him – to sacrifice all.  That could mean not buying your lunch everyday, but rather, bring it to uni or work or school.  That could mean not buying an upgrade for your laptop or ipod, but being content with what you have.  That could mean not buying the latest CD of an artist you like.  But I have to be careful here – it’s not about denial of pleasures, but realising that it costs to be generous, and more so, it’s about seeking pleasure in Jesus and not in these things (which really is the key to finding joy in generosity).  It would be pointless to do the above if the money we save from doing them stays in that ‘savings’ account.

I think when we get paid we get excited by seeing the numbers increase in our ‘savings’ accounts.  (I should really explain why I keep quotation-marking ‘savings’ – I think it’s more of a hoarding account.)  But what use is seeing growing numbers in our savings accounts when we compare it with what it could be?  Comparing the Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14-30) with Jesus’ description of what the kingdom of God is like (Mark 4:30-34), I’m blown away by what could happen if we invested our ‘talents’ (our possession, money, time, skills, energy) in this kingdom!  It would obviously look like Mark 4:30-34!  I think it’s an image that really excites me, more and more as I learn about and grow to understand what God is trying to achieve through Jesus, not in what He did on the cross, but what he continues to do now as initiated by what happened then.  He’s saving people from the dead to full life!  There can’t be anything else more worthy of spending on.

This all doesn’t mean anything if they’re just thoughts – it’s got to show in my life if this really means anything.  I think I won’t do anything unless there’s some external thing to keeps me accountable, like a monthly deduction from my ‘savings’ account.  I’m wired that way, but you might not be.  No matter how you’re wired though, I hope and pray that I might encourage you and you will encourage me to give generously to see Mark4:30-34 happen through us!  Another idea I had was selling everything I don’t need on Ebay and giving the money that comes from that to someone in need or an organisation that someone has thoughtfully set up to do that.  William Wilberforce once said that generosity must hurt the giver in order for it to be generosity.  I think him a wise and very practical man for saying so.  And I hope and pray that we would be both, not just in our stewardship of God’s money, but in everything.

So let your creativity flow into proactive practicality!

Trusting in God’s providence

I’ve started up trying to do the One Year Bible again this year.  If you don’t know, the One Year Bible is basically a ‘reading plan’ put together in such a way that you will read the whole Bible in one year.  There’s a passage from the Old Testament, a passage from the New Testament, a psalm (or part of a psalm) from the book of Psalms in the Bible (which is a collection of songs and poems written by various Israelites, mainly King David), and a proverb from the book of Proverbs (which is a collection of wise sayings written by David’s son, King Solomon).  If you’d like to give it a try (and I recommend it!) you can find the reading plan at http://www.oneyearbibleonline.com/readingplan.asp.

Anyway, some wise people have told me that it’s a good idea to try to do it every year, as you’ll come to get remember things you learn the previous year when you read the same passages again at the same time of year as you did previously!  I have to admit, I’m a bit pedantic when it comes to trying to stick to plans.  I can get easily discouraged if I’m behind, but I’ve been encouraged to not worry too much if I miss a day, but to just persevere and skip on ahead because you’ll always get to read what you miss the next year round!  Anyway, the reading a couple of days ago really challenged me.  And what’s more, the four different passages all kind of pointed to the one thing!

Genesis 28-31 is about this guy Jacob, who isn’t the best husband or son, to say the least, but through whom God shows amazing grace, which perfectly makes sense because grace is not based on our merit but solely on God’s goodness!  God speaks to Jacob and tells him ‘I will be with you, and I will protect you wherever you go.  I will someday bring you safely back to this land.  I will be with you constantly until I have finished giving you everything I have promised.’ (Genesis 28:15)  The promises God speaks about here are some really big promises!  He promised Jacob’s grandfather that He would give him lots of descendants, too numerous to count, a land they can call their own, blessings and all because God is with them.  Again, as I was saying, Jacob isn’t that great a guy – he practises polygamy, deceives his dad in order to get the blessings due to the first born son (and he’s the second), and doesn’t love his first wife well.  But what’s amazing is God’s amazing grace and his faithfulness to his promises!  God always protects Jacob and his family, and others are led to see that – they see the connection between Jacob’s protection and God being with him.  Jacob knows this and despite all his shortcomings, he trusts God to provide for him and his family.

The reading from the New Testament was from Matthew 10:5-23.  Here, Jesus sends his twelve disciples out to tell people that ‘the Kingdom of Heaven is near’ with some instructions: they are not to carry any money or clothing or even shoes with them.  They are to accept the hospitality of those who provide it when they go into the towns.  And even if they’re arrested for what they are doing, they should not worry about how to defend themselves because they will be given the right words at the right time!  I’ve read this before, but seeing it in light of what it means for God to be with us, I was really challenged to believe this and not just fear it!  I’ve always been half-hearted about this passage and the response it demands.  I think to myself: ‘I’m sure that’s true but Jesus probably meant it specifically for his twelve disciples at the time…surely it’s different now.’  Ashamedly, I had not really understood what Jesus was saying and is saying still.  Jesus’ instructions reflect the same principles as that in Genesis.  If God is with us, then who can be against us!  The psalm for that same day’s reading really just sums it up: ‘I trust in the LORD for protection.  So why do you say to me, “Fly to the mountains for safety!”‘ (Psalm 11:1)  If God really is a God who keeps his word and is as powerful as he shows himself to be, then we can go anywhere and be anywhere He puts us without carrying ‘a traveler’s bag’ (Matthew 10:10) with us, so to speak.  In other words, I can trust Him fully to look after me, whatever I really need, without worrying about them.  I might sound somewhat irresponsible here – there definitely is a place for being active in gathering and pulling together the resources that God puts in our lives, but I think at the same time, Jesus is actually calling us to something quite radical here.  Jesus didn’t mean these things metaphorically, he meant them literally.  We’re not to acquire things but to ‘give as freely as you have received’ (Matthew 10:8), knowing God is with us.  I wonder if this is the mindset when we’re or others are ‘sent out’.  But mostly, I think it’s a challenge for me not to be anxious about worldly things, or even horde or collect them, but to be focused on the ‘work’ God has prepared in advance for me to do and to believe God’s with me, wherever he might send me.

‘There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away…’

I took a walk in the park today and while I was sitting down I picked up a few dead sticks from a tree nearby and started playing swordfight with them, as you do.  Then a thought occurred to me.  They’re dead.  They’re dead.  They’re dead!  No more life in them!  Then I remembered Romans chapter 8, verse 21, where it says: ‘the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.’

I picked up the sticks and carried them home.  Now they sit on my table as a reminder that these lifeless twigs won’t exist in the new creation!  Isn’t that amazing???  There will be no such thing as death there!

In the beginning of that paragraph in Romans, Paul says: ‘I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.  For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed.’  It makes me excited, it makes my toes tinkle thinking about what this could possibly look like!  Are you waiting in eager expectation for the day when there will be no more death?  Or maybe you fear that day or are indifferent towards it.  I hope and pray that you’ll want to stand on that day to receive the glory that we don’t deserve, but have been freely given in Jesus.  I hope that you’ll want to be there on that day as a child of God.

Have a read of the passage and an excerpt from the book of Revelation here: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=rom%208;rev%2021&version=NIV.  (I find it helpful reading the two together.)

God works in funny ways?

It’s been a very interesting two weeks or so for me.  And it’s been very exciting, actually, reflecting on it.  When I tell people what’s been happening, usually I get a ‘oh dear, I’m so sorry to hear about that’ or ‘are you okay?’ but I hope to share what God has helped me see through it.

Before you think it’s anything too serious or too sad, please don’t!  It’s actually not that big at all.  Just the close of one phase and the opening of another.  The last two weeks were meant to be when Honours offers were being announced.  If you don’t know, I applied to do Honours in Psychology.  My motivations, I think, were both out of wanting to understand something of God, of His world in doing a research year, and in doing so in a way that shows evidence of His goodness to others, but also, out of fear, I believe; fear of things God has been putting on my heart for the future, but I know would be tough going once I started pursuing it.  Anyway, so I heard back and I didn’t get in.  Initially I was a little disappointed, and disappointment soon turned into anxiety; anxiety about what I had to ‘fall back on’, because, really, I hadn’t thought so very far ahead when I first applied (not a good mistake to make!).

I’ve always wanted to do teaching, and it had always been my intention to do so once I finished my degree, but my parents have never been keen for me to do this, and I knew that they certainly would not be supportive of it at that point either.  But God proved me wrong.  Over the last few years, especially because of my involvement with international students at uni, I’ve become convinced that English teaching is a powerful way into sharing lives, sharing culture, but most especially, sharing Jesus.  In fact, two good friends of mine, both international students from China and Taiwan, first met Jesus when they had done private English tutoring with English teachers who read the Bible with them.  Anyway, maybe more on that later, perhaps in another post.  Well, my parents were a bit desperate when they heard I had not planned for next year.  So they agreed to let me apply for teaching next year. If you know my parents, then that would probably be a big surprise for you too, not meaning disrespect in any way.  My dad’s even been searching up courses and different options for me (!!!).

This has confirmed a few things for me, things I’m so thankful for.  (1) I think Philippians 4:6-7 (‘Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.’) has been so real for me this week – God keeps His word!  Though initially a bit nerve-wracking, God reminded me to heed these words, to keep bringing all things before him and not be anxious.  And indeed He helped me to see Him as being the one who is in control and to keep dwelling in the peace that comes from knowing my future is secure in Him.  (2) The way my parents responded showed me that God really is the one who hands the hearts of all in his hand.  He is sovereign!  (3) My prayers for God to close and open doors to where I believe He will lead me to were answered, at least the things that happened confirmed for me that this is where He is leading me and He has so graciously made it more observable in my relationship with my parents.

Though an event of little significance, I can see God’s handiwork in the grand scheme of things.  A concluding thought: a friend at Church asked me today ‘Anna, how do you remember God in each day?’ I didn’t have to think too hard to answer, for God had helped me to do that these last few weeks.  I said ‘I think it’s by asking some questions: “What do I know of God’s will?”  Well, simply, it’s that He seeks to restore His world, reversing the effects of sin and ushering in a new creation.  He’s done it through Jesus coming and is continuing to do it through His work in our hearts and through us in our families, communities, and world.  Another question is “How do I fit into this great plan?” If this is what God is doing in His world, then we definitely fit in somehow, and we should actively seek to be a part of His great work in the place He’s put us!  And third question is “What is God teaching me through this?” If He desires to make me more like Jesus, surely He is doing that right now, so I might be where I am in this ‘thing’ for a reason none other than that.’  And I think God’s taught me a bit more about each of these over my reflections this week.

Nuggets of wisdom

I’ve been reading this book by Elisabeth Elliot called Passion and Purity, which has been a very interesting read so far.  It’s interesting because Elliot never seems to say exactly what she means, but that makes it all the more helpful having to think through what she’s trying to get at.  Often I’m not really sure why she mentions something until a day or two later!  Two such ‘nuggets of wisdom’ I’d like to share:

1. There’s a chapter in the book where Elliot shares a diary entry she wrote just after Jim Elliot (who was her first husband, who died whilst sharing the good news about Jesus in Ecuador) told her that he liked her.  She struggles with this because even though she greatly admires and love Jim, Jim told her that he felt convicted to lead a life of singleness (which is also puzzling in itself, as I wonder why Jim told her how he felt about her even though he felt convicted in this way).  Anyway, her journal entry for that day is a list of different verses that ‘represent warnings and aspirations that shaped [her] thinking’.  She says:

I was very cautious about what I put in the journals.  I don’t think it was because I feared someone else would discover my secrets.  I think I was afraid to articulate, even for myself, feelings I might have to get rid of.  Better to stick with what God was saying to me than what my heart was saying.  It seemed the safer course.  I do not repudiate it now.  The only way to build a house on the rock is to hear the Word (I couldn’t have heard it if all I listened to was my feelings) and then to try to do it.

What wisdom!  My journal entries are always full of lots of babbling thoughts and I don’t think I’ve considered that mulling over my thoughts could be dangerous.  But more so, it seems there is much wisdom to not just not mulling over my thoughts/feelings, but actually making sure I ‘mull’ over God’s thoughts instead of the former.

2. In another chapter, Elliot recounts a time when a girl who was staying with her told her about a dilemma: she was eager to marry a handsome and wealthy man but she was going out with someone who was a Christian, handsome, and interesting, but ‘poor and homely’.  Here’s the excerpt:

Elliot: What do you want more than anything else in life?  God’s choices or your own?

Jane: God’s, of course.

Elliot: What if He should choose for you a man who was poor and homely?

Jane: Oh, but He wouldn’t!

Elliot: Why not?

Jane: Because He loves me.

…

Jane: …I’ve prayed for His will, and I’ve prayed for a rich, handsome husband, and that’s what I’m going to get, because Jesus loves me and Jesus wants me to be happy.

Elliot: So if you don’t get him, will that prove God doesn’t love you?

Jane: Doesn’t He want me to be happy?

Elliot: He wants you most to be holy.

Jane: Miserable and long faced, then.  Is that what God wants?  Is that what holiness has to mean?

Elliot: Has to?  No.  Not only doesn’t have to, but can’t.  Real holiness can’t possibly be miserable and long faced, Jane.  Holiness means ‘wholeness’.  Comes from the same root as hale–you know, hale and hearty.  Healthy.  Fulfilled.

Jane: Well, that has to mean happy.

Elliot: That’s what it means for sure.  The problem starts when we make up our own minds what will give us happiness and then decide, if we don’t get exactly that, that God doesn’t love us.  We slither into a slough of God-hates-me self-pity.

Jane: But you just said He wants us to be happy.  He must want to give us what we want, doesn’t He?  I mean, within reason.

Elliot: He wanted Adam and Eve to be happy, but He didn’t give them everything they wanted.  He knew it would be the death of them.  So they got made and decided He didn’t love them and was being stingy when He told them not to touch the fruit.  How could He love them if He didn’t let them have it?  They put more stock in the snake’s reasoning than in God’s.

That is pure gold, right there.  I have to admit, though Elliot’s voice is in my head, Jane’s voice is sometimes a truer reflection of my thoughts on a wide range of issues.  I know God wants me to be holy, to be the person He created me to be (before sin entered the world) and to be the person He has saved me to be (in Jesus), and His desire for that is pure goodness, but sometimes the circumstances he uses to do that are certainly not desirable, at least not initially.  But Elliot is right, ‘the problem starts when we make up our own minds what will give us happiness and then decide, if we don’t get exactly that, that God doesn’t love us.  We slither into a slough of God-hates-me self-pity.’  I need to heed the wisdom of point 1 and let God’s thoughts fill my mind, and not those of my sinful nature.

 

 

 

One body, many different parts

‘Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ…Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body.’ (I Corinthians 12:12, 15-20)

I think God is teaching me to appreciate this more and more.  I’d always think the ‘gifts’ that Paul is talking of here, with each member of the body being different, that is having different gifts from the same Spirit, as being skills mainly.  But I’m discovering that it’s a whole lot more than that!  I was talking to a good friend tonight (or rather, last night, since it is now the morning of the following day!) and she told me that she feels like she’s not ‘outward-looking’ enough, always staying in one place and not venturing beyond.  But as she spoke, and as I thought of how to respond, I was reminded of the above words, and encouraged to see them with new eyes.  What my friend didn’t see, but I see often, is the way she comes up with the most creative and engaging ways to teach children about Jesus, the way she notices the little things in the classroom, the way Luke answered a question, or the way Benjamin helped another person solve a puzzle, and encourages them by sharing these things with them, or the way she talks to new people at church, sensitive to their sense of awkwardness and listening to them patiently.  Not to praise her, but to praise the Lord who brings all peoples to himself and calls them together under the headship of Christ, do I mention this.

Unlike my friend, I’m a bit of a broad strokes person.  She doesn’t think too much about ‘the future’ but is content to do her best in the present.  I, on the other hand, think a bit too much about the future at times, and can be neglectful of the present.  She likes to pay attention to things on a day-to-day basis; I like to pay attention to things in ‘monthly view’ and ‘yearly view’.  She doesn’t mind and in fact enjoys decorating, adding pictures and even creating fun fonts for the Sunday school worksheets I make; I, on the other hand, like to just type everything up in Arial Font Size 12 and print it, thinking only of the content and not very much of the presentation.  Both I don’t think I’d be a very good Sunday school teacher without her, or people like her!

It seems the many parts of the body are just that!  It is the whole person, God’s creation and God’s recreation in Jesus, that God gives and puts into the body of Christ!  It makes sense that ‘God has placed in the church first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, of helping, of guidance, and of different kinds of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles?’ (I Corinthians 12:28-29).  It is not that he gives the gift of teaching to some, but that he gives teachers, evangelists, people who are good to noticing the details, people who like to think things in systematic ways, people who are thinkers, people who are doers, etc.  Of course, we change, and that’s entailed in being part of the body actually (‘Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind’ (I Peter 3:8)) but more importantly, ‘he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ…we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that ti builds itself up in love.’ (Ephesians 4:11-13, 15-16).  What a breath-taking picture of what God has in stall for bringing such a diversity of people together – and what an ambitious project indeed!  To be distinct in our roles, in the way He creates and moulds us to be, but at the same time having one mind (the same ambition, purpose, attitude, motivation, and heart as Jesus).  And it is God who will do it!  What an amazing God.

Striving to rest (Part 2)

I gotta thank Keiyeng for getting me thinking more on this (thanks Keiyeng!).  And Jayne, I hope you read this: http://jeaninallhonesty.blogspot.com/2008/05/cj-mahaney-on-sleep.html.  This blog post might be helpful concerning the insomnia episodes you’ve been having!

Keiyeng raised lots of questions in my head (in a helpful way that is) and something a friend of mine said the other day also raised more, while answering some I had previously in my first post on this (and I wonder if perhaps he was addressing those very questions/thoughts I had while speaking to me!).  Anyway, he said that we can rest now, because the work has been done!  Jesus has done it by His saving work on the cross 2000 years ago and the work is finished.  And he’s right.  That is true!  It definitely got me thinking in a new light, specifically the value, then, that our ‘work’ now has.  If Jesus has said ‘it is finished’, then what kind of work is the work I do now?  What kind of rest is the rest I have now?  It was certainly a rebuke for me to think about ‘work’ in the right perspective.  The Christ, Jesus, ultimately has and does the work that needs to be done to achieve the rest that we so desperately need and were created to enjoy.

If I were drawing all these words in a diagram, I would put the above paragraph in the centre with a circle around it and label it ‘the cornerstone truth about rest’.  I think it certainly has far-reaching implications…somehow.  Initial thoughts, when reflecting on the great truth above:

My ‘efforts’ to serve God can be done with a great sense of completion already and of assurance of their outcome, for their outcome is in His hands, not mine!  Thanks be to God for that!

There is no ‘unfinished’ work to be done!  I can never not do the things that need doing!  (Does that make sense!?)  What a liberating and amazing thing!

I often get very emotionally tied up in relationships with people, and I can get very concerned/anxious, especially when a friend is struggling with something that seems to turn them away from the Lord, and I can start being overwhelmed by it and ‘take matters into my own hands’, forgetting that the Lord is the one who not only holds the whole world in the palm of His hand but has power over every man’s heart.  Both are breath-taking facts (though the first is obviously metaphorical) and it’s only by going back to the cross, where God revealed how He was going to complete the work He had set out to do since the beginning of the world, to restore the original rest He made, that we can fully appreciate rest now.  We can sleep soundly, enjoy a whole day at the park, just spend time reading, because we can be sure what needs to be done will be done (and in fact has been done already).

Hmmm…I don’t know whether I’ve answered any questions or just put up more thoughts, but will have to keep thinking and praying about this!  In the meantime, I’d love to hear what you think :)!