Digging Deeper

Caleb is still processing all the Lord showed him while he was in Africa. And since we haven't had much time to just sit and talk with him since then (because we have been seriously nomadic), Kregg and I took him to dinner last night, just the three of us. Some of the things he learned came as a surprise to me. And I am still processing his words. But as the discussion continues, the Lord keeps having him dig more deeply. And to watch the process, as a mom, is so exciting. And terrifying. And lots of other "ings." During our time last night, he shared another quote from Jim Elliot (Through Gates of Splendor). 


This isn't one of those lovely quotes that makes one say, "Wow, that is wonderful!" It's one of those that causes one to say, "OUCH!" So, you have been warned. But having gotten to know many of you and seeing glimpses of your heart through your precious words to me here, I believe you will appreciate why I am sharing it. 


Here goes:


"Surely those who know the great passionate heart of Jehovah must deny their own loves to share in the expression of His. Consider the call from the Throne above, "Go ye," and from round about, "Come over and help us," and even the call from the damned souls below, "Send Lazarus to my brothers, that they come not to this place." Impelled, then, by these voices, I dare not stay home while Quichuas perish. So what if the well-fed church in the homeland needs stirring? They have the Scriptures, Moses, and the Prophets, and a whole lot more. Their condemnation is written on their bank books and in the dust on their Bible covers. American believers have sold their lives to the service of Mammon, and God has His rightful way of dealing with those who succumb to the spirit of Laodicea."
— Jim Elliot


Obviously, this doesn't apply to any of us, but to all those other "people out there."


Right!


I am convicted by the passionate heart of this man who laid everything on the line for His Father. He held nothing back. Nothing. And as he lay on that beach dying from the spear that had been rammed into his body, he had nothing to regret. Sure, he would have grieved over the pain that his wife and son would feel over his death. But beyond that, he left this life in victory having finished the race gloriously because there was nothing God asked of Him that he refused to give. 


When I hold my life up to that standard? 


Ouch!


When I hold it up to the standard of Christ?


Father, help me! May I be poured out, holding nothing back, in Your Service.


May we, those called by The Name, allow Him to fit us to His Purposes, emptied of self, filled with Him until we, too, can leave this earth when the time comes with no regrets. None!