I've been reading The Adventure by Jerry Sittser who will be the speaker this year at "Setting the Mind on Fire" at Moses Lake Christian Academy. It's not profound, but it's good, my son, a 7th grader at the Academy, is reading it in his Bible class.Sittser quotes Hudson Taylor the great missionary and hero of the faith who started the Inland China Mission, as struggling with his lack of faithfulness! Hudson Taylor... struggling with lack of faithfulness and falling short? Who would have guessed it. Nevertheless as Taylor struggles through the question of his own faithfulness he is suddenly reminded of the elementary truth... I'll give it to you in his own words... a journal entry to his sister:
"But how to get faith strengthened? Not by striving after faith, but by resting on the Faithful one: As I read, I saw it all! 'If we believe not, he abideth faithful!' I looked to Jesus and saw (and when I saw, oh, how joy flowed!) that he has said, 'I will never leave Thee!!' 'Ah, there is rest!' I thought, I have striven in vain to rest in Him. I'll strive no more. For has not He promised to abide with me - never to leave me, never to fail me?"
Isn't it true... it's not difficult to lapse into the dulldrums of self-pity and condemnation because we're not measuring up. The truth is if we ever get to the place that we think we are measuring up we're probably in trouble. We only measure up because HE MEASURED UP! The reason that we can rest in that is because it never changes. I suppose there is a danger of just becoming lazy in our discipleship and saying, "It doesn't matter what I do, it's all about Him." We're called to be shaped, to draw near, to obedience, to faithfulness, and all the rest... to walk the narrow path. I want to press on, but in his finished work, not my daily busy work. Thank God - He is faithful when I struggle to believe!
