Hey guys! It's Steven :)
So I've read part 1 and part of part 2, and I've had some thoughts...these 2 will make for my part 1 posts, I guess, and once I finish part 2, I'll post more thoughts...but anyways, here we goooooooo
ON RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD
I've been doing a lot of thinking about my relationship with God lately. Jim Elliot seemed like such a holy, devoted guy, yet there are snippets from his journals, letters, and notebooks where he criticizes himself and prays to God about his imperfections. Those writings, although seemingly very different from mine, actually remind me of many of my journal entries and late night prayers. Longing for God, longing for that passion, that fire that used to drive me during my late junior high years and early high school years - a passion that seemed to die out from burning out senior year of high school. But if that fire burned out, and if I'm really burned out, why do I still have this hunger and desire for God? Even though I don't feel God as emotionally as before, does that necessarily mean I'm burned out? I think, in the case of my relationship with God where sometimes I feel very tired and lost for direction, I need to pause and reconsider what it means to have burned out. Because, reading on Jim's life, he's never satisfied, ever, with how his devotional life is, how his prayer life is, etc, yet he spent at least 2-3 hours a day just studying the word of God and praying. Yet, he never considered it enough; he always wanted more of God. I wonder if I am in that state, hitting a growth wall, a wall I need to get past through prayer and waiting on God, not necessarily through a major Spirit encounter but steadfast, daily discipline in the Spirit.
ON JIM ELLIOT
I find this guy immensely inspiring. His totally abandoned devotion to God, his hunger for the things of the Lord, and his intense spiritual development simply amaze me. It's actually challenged me to remember that daily I must die to myself, daily I must pick up my cross and live according to the second chance Christ's death and resurrection have given me. Jim Elliot lives with such passionate conviction, and yet, I don't agree fully with, I guess you can call it, theology. For example, he seems, at times, to be so spiritual that he seems too "out of this world" - I don't know if you guys feel the same way, but the part about the football game was pretty hilarious but it also startled me that Jim Elliot considered everything invaluable in the face of the kingdom of God. In a sense, it bothers me because it seems like Jim wouldn't be able to reach out to his colleagues. "Hey man, did you see the game?" "No, I was reading the Bible because it's more worthwhile." But I do see, however, that it was the formation of this devotion, this theology, which from what I understand is biblically founded, that Jim was able to respond to his calling of being a missionary. It got me thinking about the body of Christ - how so many people, many times, will have theological disagreements. However, all of us have a different part in this body of Christ, and God chooses to form us and "design" our lives (as Jim Elliot puts it in part II) according to what he has called us to. I can't imagine Jim Elliot having as passionate a life as he did have if his theology was formed differently. This total abandon to the things of this world - now that is a missionary heart of sacrifice. He has that mentality, the biblical motivation, and the spiritual devotion. It's very inpsiring to me, and although I don't always agree with everything Jim does, I know that God has used him mightily and that I am only but a part of this Body of Christ, a part of God's larger plan. I guess this is sort of what it means to find our common ground in Christ - "I disagree with you, but I believe that God loves you and is still moving mightily through you, and I will not let my disagreement hinder God's larger plan."
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ReplyDeleteHm. After reading some of Part II, I can kinda see your point about disagreeing with Jim's approach. But all this reminds me of Elisabeth Elliot's challenge in the preface, when she was talking about Jim's life: "Was it extraordinary?... If his answer is yes - if he finds herein the "stamp of Christ" and decides that this is extraordinary - what shall we say of the state of Christendom?" (6) I can't say which view is the more correct one, but there is a certain merit to being in the world and yet not of it. I think it's a challenge to Western Christianity (and to me personally) that the journey with Christ is a discipline as much as it is a relationship: even when the emotions aren't there, it's still important to maintain that level of commitment.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing Steven. I think your point about "daily discipline" is a really profound one...C.S. Lewis made the point that faith is exactly that - obedience and fervent devotion to God, when the emotions aren't there.
ReplyDeleteI'm not quite sure I would call his perspective on football a matter of "theology"...from my reading of it, he just sort of wasn't into it himself, personally...I don't think he was saying that Christians should not go to or enjoy football games...though, I think his "other-worldly" perspective is objectively an accurate one.