I am still working my way through Passion and Purity and I was reading it a few nights ago and I considered some things in contrast to the life I am living today.
Consider Elisabeth Elliot's words, "But the question to proceed all others, which finally determines the course of our lives, is what do I really want? Was it to love what God commands, in the words of the collect, and to desire what He promises? Did I want what I wanted, or did I want what He wanted, no matter what it might cost?" (p.40)
I was thinking about this and about how Elisabeth had others that actually agreed that Christ should be first and foremost in their lives, no matter the cost, that actually believed "that singleness was synonymous with virginity" because they were Christians and they "prized the sanctity of sex" (p.22), and I actually wondered how they managed to be so passionate for Christ and all of one mind. And, then I thought, "What would be different if I could lay aside every distraction and compromise, everything shouting for my attention, in this world?"
In the days Elisabeth speaks of, there was no internet and countless channels on cable t.v. To get a book published, one actually had to be a valid writer...you couldn't self-publish your opinion in fifteen minutes and have it blasted to the entire world. To be an actor or actress, you truly had to have talent. Movies weren't released in the way they are today, where there are countless choices, 80% of which are full of violence, profanity or graphic nudity...sometimes all three combined. There wasn't so much vying for her attention as there is today vying for mine.
But, she also didn't have the ability to share God's word with the click of the mouse, to reach into the bleak despair of someone's life and offer hope even though the person resides thousands of miles away, to join in prayer with others for the grace and mercy and blessing and anointing of God to be poured out. The benefits that face me are great, I believe, but first I must overcome the distraction.
A great many Christians today, in striving to be relevant, give up their reverence. In other words, they are more concerned with being hip than being holy, being cool than being consecrated, and fitting in than standing firm.
Lord, may I be aware of every distraction that takes away from glorifying You. May I truly be salt and light in this world, for that is what You have called me to be. May I learn to love as You have loved, to deal harshly with the sin in my own life, and to be wide-awake and not sleeping. Grant me wisdom and opportunity to speak Your truth in a clear way, to show Your love purely, and to be passionate in the purity You've called me to and the waiting that one must always do. In Your precious Name I ask this, Jesus, my Love, Amen.
Consider Elisabeth Elliot's words, "But the question to proceed all others, which finally determines the course of our lives, is what do I really want? Was it to love what God commands, in the words of the collect, and to desire what He promises? Did I want what I wanted, or did I want what He wanted, no matter what it might cost?" (p.40)
I was thinking about this and about how Elisabeth had others that actually agreed that Christ should be first and foremost in their lives, no matter the cost, that actually believed "that singleness was synonymous with virginity" because they were Christians and they "prized the sanctity of sex" (p.22), and I actually wondered how they managed to be so passionate for Christ and all of one mind. And, then I thought, "What would be different if I could lay aside every distraction and compromise, everything shouting for my attention, in this world?"
In the days Elisabeth speaks of, there was no internet and countless channels on cable t.v. To get a book published, one actually had to be a valid writer...you couldn't self-publish your opinion in fifteen minutes and have it blasted to the entire world. To be an actor or actress, you truly had to have talent. Movies weren't released in the way they are today, where there are countless choices, 80% of which are full of violence, profanity or graphic nudity...sometimes all three combined. There wasn't so much vying for her attention as there is today vying for mine.
But, she also didn't have the ability to share God's word with the click of the mouse, to reach into the bleak despair of someone's life and offer hope even though the person resides thousands of miles away, to join in prayer with others for the grace and mercy and blessing and anointing of God to be poured out. The benefits that face me are great, I believe, but first I must overcome the distraction.
A great many Christians today, in striving to be relevant, give up their reverence. In other words, they are more concerned with being hip than being holy, being cool than being consecrated, and fitting in than standing firm.
Lord, may I be aware of every distraction that takes away from glorifying You. May I truly be salt and light in this world, for that is what You have called me to be. May I learn to love as You have loved, to deal harshly with the sin in my own life, and to be wide-awake and not sleeping. Grant me wisdom and opportunity to speak Your truth in a clear way, to show Your love purely, and to be passionate in the purity You've called me to and the waiting that one must always do. In Your precious Name I ask this, Jesus, my Love, Amen.