I just finished reading "Faithful Women and Their Extraordinary God" by Noel Piper. It was an amazing book that I recommend you read. Reading about other women (in this case missionaries) and their walks with the Lord always stirs my soul. As I read the stories of 5 women I was challenged in so many ways. The last one I read was about Helen Roseveare, a missionary to Congo in the 1950s and 60s. I'm not so good at paraphrasing, so I will just quote some of her words that have pierced my soul and humbled my heart.
"Since 1973, I have been living in the United Kingdom, and seeking to present the desperate need of three thousand million people, alive today, who have never heard of our Lord Jesus Christ and of the redemption He wrought for them at Calvary. These are the "hidden peoples" in more than ten thousand ethnic groups around our world. As I try to present their needs, I pray earnestly that the Holy Spirit will stir hearts to make a response. It seems so obvious to me that Christian young people.....should rise up and go......
Why is the response so poor?
Is it that we Christians today have an inadequate understanding of God's holiness and therefore of His wrath against sin and of the awfulness of a Christless eternity? If we were gripped by the two facts - of the necessity for judgment of sin because God is holy; and of the necessity of holiness in the Christian that he may represent such a God to others - would we not "hunger and thirst after righteousness" whatever the cost, and would not others then see Christ in us, and be drawn to Him? In other words, if we (understood) the Scriptural teaching on the need of Holiness in the life of every believer, we should not need to plead for missionaries."
I cannot help but feel conviction as I read her words. It has caused me to evaluate so many areas of my life and how I view the Lord's holiness. I want to dive deeper and I need to. I long to be a woman that hungers and thirsts after the righteousness of God and to be able to model that for our children and if I'm honest with myself, right now I'm just not there. But there is hope and by God's grace, I can get there. I pray that I will continue to press on to be a woman that hungers and thirsts of the righteousness of God and that others will see that in me and be drawn to Him.
2 comments:
Great reminder, thanks for sharing. I also LOVED that book.
I hear you! I feel the same way about wanting to hunger and thirst, but don't yet. Trying to work on that as well.
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