Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ Jesus
This is the last chapter in this series. hope you loved reading all the writings.
In the previous chapter, Lesson 8, we learned that true worship
begins when the Giver Himself fills our heart and our vision. Only then can we
safely use His gifts. Otherwise we shall abuse God's gifts and prostitute them
away to selfish uses. This is what we see many a times, a misuse of the gifts
of the Holy Spirit. Today, we will learn about...
That which costs us everything
Abraham's devotion was tested that day when God asked him for
Isaac. Had God asked Abraham for 10,000 sheep or 5,000 rams, that would have
been easier for Abraham to offer. But one Isaac cost him everything, and he
decided to offer nothing less than what God asked for. Abraham could have said
the words that David said, years later, "I will never offer to my God that
which costs me nothing" (2 Sam. 24:24). Yes, true worship involves our
offering to God that which costs us EVERYTHING.
Interestingly, it was on this
very spot (where Abraham offered Isaac, on Mount Moriah), that David
spoke the words quoted above (the threshing floor of Araunah was located here).
It was here too that the Lord chose to build His temple, a thousand years later
(2 Chron. 3:1). God ordained His house to be built on the very spot where two
of His servants (Abraham and David) had made costly sacrifices. That was where
the fire fell from heaven and that was where the glory of God was seen (2
Chron. 7:1). It is even so today. God builds His true church and manifests His
power and glory where He finds men and women who are willing to deny themselves
and offer Him that which costs them everything.
Does Christianity cost us something? Is our service for God an
easygoing, cheap thing that does not cost
us our time, money, or energy? Do our prayers cost us something? Have we drawn
a limit to the sacrifices we are willing to make for God? Do we look for ease
and comfort? If not, how can we expect the fire of God to fall upon us and the
glory of God to be seen in our lives? Let us not deceive ourselves. The fullness
of the Holy Spirit can result only from a whole hearted giving up of ourselves
to God.
The way of the cross is painful.
How painful it must have been for Abraham to face the thought of slaying his
own son himself. It is never easy for any parent to see their children
suffering as a result of the stand they have taken for God. That can be very
costly. But blessed are we, if we are willing to suffer even that. God is no man’s
debtor. If we have honored Him, He will certainly honor us; and we shall find
our children following God too, as Isaac followed in Abraham’s footsteps. Isaac’s
willingness to be tied to the altar and to be slain was an indication of his
own devotion to his father’s God. Isaac was a strong, able-bodied, young man,
and his aged father could never have tied him to the altar, if Isaac himself
had not been willing. But Isaac had seen the reality of God in his father’s
life, and so he was willing to submit to anything that God desired. We see
Isaac’s devotion to God just as much as we see Abraham’s. And we see how true
it was what the Lord had said that Abraham would “command his children and his
household to keep the way of the Lord” (Gen. 18:19).
On the other hand, many believers have lowered their high
standards and compromised their Christian principles, for the sake of some
material advantage for their children – only to see their children growing up
to break hearts and live for the world.
Heaven’s greatest rewards are reserved for those who have followed
in Abraham’s footsteps, and who like him have not withheld anything from God,
whatever the cost.
I have once read about the story of a young American couple who
went to China as missionaries, before the Communists took over that land. They
asked their mission board to assign them to some unreached area that had not
yet been evangelized. Accordingly, they were posted to a little village in the
interior, near Tibet. They labored faithfully there for several years, but did
not see a single soul saved. God then gave them the gift of a baby daughter.
And as that daughter grew up, they saw a miracle taking place before their
eyes. They taught their little girl Bible verses and choruses in the local
language, and she in turn taught them to the children with whom she played. Those
children went home and taught these verses to their parents. Soon one person was converted to Christ.
This missionary couple continued to labor there for another 14
years (making a total of 21 years) without a furlough, and in that period seven
more souls were saved. (God doesn’t measure success by statistics as men do. This
couple had spent 21 years to show 8 souls the way to eternal life. Surely their
reward will be great when Christ returns). At the end of those 21 years, one
day the father noticed a patch on the hand of his 14 year old daughter. They
took her to a doctor who told them that the girl had contracted leprosy. It broke
their hearts to think of what their child had to suffer because of their
devotion to God and to His call. The mother and daughter traveled back to America
for the daughter’s treatment. But the man himself stayed on in China. When they
asked why he did not go back to America with his family, he replied, “I would
have liked to have gone with my family. But back there in my mission station,
there are eight souls who need to be instructed and fed. If someone else
replaces me, it will take years before they develop confidence in him. And so I
feel I should go back to them.” It cost that family everything they had, to
serve God.
So many believers, who have much, give so little to God. But a few
who have so little, give so much. And it is through this small and faithful
remnant that God builds His church. The kingdom of God does not come through a
spectacular outward show, but through men of God such as that missionary. Some of
these men may not be well known on earth. But they will shine as stars in eternity.
The apostle Paul came from a wealthy business family in Tarsus and
could have chosen an easy life, when he was saved on the Damascus Road. He could
have settled down to a comfortable life as a Christian businessman in Tarsus.
But he didn’t do that. He went out to serve God and endured hardship. He got
195 stripes on his back, he was stoned, and suffered shipwreck, and he faced
many dangers in his service for God. If we were to ask him why he endured all
that, he would say, “When
I gave my life to the Lord, I determined that I would never offer Him any
service that cost me nothing.”
Two
hundred years ago, the Moravian brethren formed one of the greatest missionary movements
that the world has ever seen. Two of their number, heard of a slave colony in
the West Indies and went there, willing to be sold as slaves on that island. Two
others heard of a leper colony in Africa where no one was allowed to enter and
return, for fear that the disease might spread. They volunteered to go into
that leper colony for the rest of their lives, in order to present Christ to
the inmates of the colony. The motto of those Moravian brethren was “to win for the Lamb that was slain the
reward of His sufferings”. They certainly knew what it was to worship God, by offering Him that which
cost them everything.
How
shallow and superficial our lies and labors are, compared with these men of men
like these. How much has it cost us to serve God- in terms of loss of money,
comfort, reputation, honor and health? Do we realize that we do not really know
what it is to worship God if our Christianity has not cost us everything that
this world counts dear? Those who serve God wholeheartedly, giving up
everything for Him, are the only ones who will have no regret in eternity. The Lord
is calling today for those who will follow Him along the pathway of the cross –
being emptied of everything.
Margaret
Clarkson places this challenge so clearly before us in her hymn:
“So send I you – to labor unrewarded,
To serve unpaid, unloved, unsought, unknown
To bear rebuke, to suffer scorn and scoffing,
So send I you – to toil for Me alone.
So send I you – to loneliness and longing,
With heart a-hungering for the loved and known;
Forsaking home and kindred, friend and dear one,
So send I you – to know My love alone.”
This
is the way of power. And we need to be reminded of it again in a day when many
think that there are short cuts and once for all experiences that guarantee
spiritual power. The way of the cross alone is the way of power. Jesus steadfastly
set His face to go to the cross. What about us? We shall face this choice
daily. If we are looking for three easy steps to the victorious life, then the
Bible has no message for us. But if we are willing to pay the price of denying
ourselves and taking up our cross daily
and following Jesus, then we shall indeed know the power of the Spirit of God
resting upon us for our life and sacrifice.
Dear brothers and sisters, the above extract has been taken from the book "Beauty for Ashes" by Zac Poonen. This is the last part of this series of being broken. Please keep me, a sinful servant of our Lord Jesus in your prayers for His guidance and enlightenment to know more about Him and to be obedient to His will. Also please pray that I might be guided into writing these messages in my own manner and understanding.
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