Conv-verg - \kən-ˈvərj\
1: to tend or move toward one point or one another : come together : meet <converging paths>
I think it was Elizabeth Elliot who said, "When the will of God and the will of man meet someone has to die". So often we refuse to die. We refuse to take up our cross. The church should be so engaged in the ways and work of God that the enemy fears our waking up. However, we have backed down. This world has become more important than the next. It was Jim Elliot who said, "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose." Give what you cannot keep. You cannot keep time. It is passing. You can't stop it or slow it so give it. Jim Elliot also said, "I may no longer depend on pleasant impulses to bring me before the Lord. I must rather respond to principles I know to be right, whether I feel them to be enjoyable or not."
I do not doubt what I say I believe, but is it really a belief if I choose not to live by it? It might be as Josh McDowell wrote, "We must move from belief to conviction" (paraphrased).
May there be a convergence in my life and yours today.
Great post on a critically important topic.
ReplyDeleteJim Elliot also said:
"That delight—in God—is the thing that brings desire in the heart to do good, and desire is beneath everything. If there is no desire to do God’s will, then the doing of God’s will is just outward conformity, and God doesn’t appreciate it at all.
"Now desire is more than just willingness. I once worked for the Foreign Missions Fellowship, which is a group of collegiate kids who are considering going to the mission field. You know, every time I would talk to some Christians in college, their big cry about the mission field was, 'Well you know, I’m willing to go. I’m quite willing to go to the mission field. Very willing to go. Willing. But I need a call from God (or some such thing) because I don’t feel as if I’m sent to the mission field.' Well, I’m telling you that passive willingness is not desire. I was willing to go to the mission field a long time before I willed to go to the mission field. And it is the desire of the will that God wants.
“Desire is the putting of my will into God’s concern. It’s not a passive, sitting back in your easy chair, folding your arms sort of thing, which says, 'Well, I’m willing, if God would only give me a good swift kick and send me.' That’s willingness all right. But God doesn’t want willingness, He wants will! He wants your will put behind those desires." (Jim Elliot: A Christian Martyr Speaks To You, pages 28-29)
May God bless your service for Him and give you much eternal fruit.