Cease Striving

 “Cease striving and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our stronghold.              Psalm 46:10-11

Many great Christian believers do not find the fullness of a relationship with Christ as one who abides in Christ early in their walk with God, but it usually comes after years of trying to be the man or woman God wants him or her to be without being fully enveloped in the life of Christ – the exchanged life. Most often, the revelation comes after a period of the believer falling short of his expectation of how he should be living. One such example is Hudson Taylor.

One of the greatest missionaries of the modern Christian age is (James) Hudson Taylor, who spent 51 years in China and was responsible for bringing over 800 missionaries to the country and began 125 schools, which directly resulted in 18,000 Christian conversions, as well as the establishment of more than 300 stations of work with more than 500 local helpers in all eighteen provinces. 

According to Billy Graham, "Few men have been used to touch China for God as Hudson Taylor was. He willingly broke with tradition and adopted Chinese dress. Eagerly, he built teams across denominational lines. His vision was always to penetrate new frontiers with the gospel. His motivation was neither reckless adventure nor self-fulfillment, but a deep concern for those without Christ. His life was impelled by a growing confidence in the faithfulness of God. Kenneth Scott LaTourette said, “Hudson Taylor was...one of the greatest missionaries of all time, and... one of the four or five most influential foreigners who came to China in the nineteenth century for any purpose.”

After 15 years of serving in China, Taylor went through a spiritual crisis that created in him a deep depression regarding his relationship with God and victory over sin. In 1869, he stated, "I felt the ingratitude, the danger, the sin of not living nearer to God." According to Roger Steer in his biography, J. Hudson Taylor, A Man in Christ, “He prayed, he agonized, he fasted, he tried to do better, he made resolutions. He read the Bible more carefully, he ordered his life to give more time for rest and meditation. But all this had little effect. He saw that both he himself and the China Inland Mission (CIM) needed more holiness, life, and power.”

Taylor stated, “Every day, almost every hour, the consciousness of sin oppressed me. I knew that if only I could abide in Christ, all would be well, but I could not." These thoughts created a spiral that brought him to a place of more weakness and failure. He remained passionate about his ministry, and Christ remained precious, but with constant feelings of personal failure. “I felt assured that there was in Christ all I needed, but the practical question was how to get it out.” 

In 1869, Hudson read a book called “Christ is All” by Henry Law and was influenced by a passage on personal holiness sent to him by a fellow missionary, John McCarthy. "The Lord Jesus received is holiness begun; the Lord Jesus cherished is holiness advancing; the Lord Jesus counted upon as never absent would be holiness complete."  Taylor recalled, "As I read, I saw it all! 'If we believe not, He abideth faithful.’ I looked to Jesus and saw (and when I saw, oh, how joy flowed!) that He had said, ‘I will never leave you.' Ah, there is rest!" I thought I have striven in vain to rest in Him. I’ll strive no more. For has He not promised to abide with me – never to leave me, never to fail me?

This new understanding of continually abiding in Christ endured for the rest of his life. He had found true holiness not in human perfection but in a continual trusting in the power and plan of his abiding Christ. He found the reality that “It is finished!” At the time, he was quoted by fellow missionary Charles Henry Judd as saying: "Oh, Mr. Judd, God has made me a new man!" 

John Lennon of the Beatles wrote a song entitled “Rain” in which he clarifies the difference between rain and shine: “Can you hear me, that when it rains and shines, it’s just a state of mind.” God is calling us to Himself, a state of mind in which He is always with us so that we can rest in Him.

Isaac Watts, a prolific hymnwriter of the 17th and 18th centuries, was responsible for more than 750 hymns, some still sung in churches today. He wrote the words below to exemplify the essence of the abiding relationship in Christ. It takes all the weight off of man’s works and places them squarely on his faith in who Jesus is and what He did:

No more, my God, I boast no more
Of all the duties I have done;
I quit the hopes I held before,
To trust the merits of Thy Son. 

Now, for the love I bear His name,
What was my gain, I count my loss;
My former pride I call my shame,
And nail my glory to His cross. 

Yes, and I must and will esteem
All things but loss for Jesus’ sake:
O may my soul be found in Him,
And of His righteousness partake! 

The best obedience of my hands
Dares not appear before Thy throne;
But faith can answer Thy demands
By pleading what my Lord has done.

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Session of Christ

Image
This Jesus God raised up again, to which we are all witnesses. Therefore having been exalted to the right hand of God [place of honor and approval], and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured forth this which you both see and hear .                 Acts 2:32-33 Peter spoke these words to the gathering in Jerusalem at Pentecost when 3,000 souls received Jesus as Messiah. He was introducing the period in history known as the Session (sitting) of Christ, the ministry of Jesus between His first and second coming as High Priest, Head of the Church, and mediator of the new covenant. Peter was also confirming his position as king, prophesied by David in Psalm 110: The Lord says [ ne um - oracle, divine communication between the Father and the Son] to my Lord: “Sit at My right hand until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet.” The Lord will stretch forth Your strong scepter from Zion, saying, “ Rule [ radah...
Read more

In Your Presence

Image
They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence [ paniym – face, figuratively of the person] of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. Then the Lord God called to the man and said to him, "Where are you?" He said, "I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked [ erom – without clothing] ; so, I hid myself.” And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?”                                    Genesis 3:8-11   The first mention of God being present in a given situation or circumstance is found in the above passage, where Adam was looking to hide from the Lord after he found himself naked. The fact that he knew he was n...
Read more

Work Out Your Salvation

Image
The Apostle Paul wrote five different letters (Prison Epistles) from a Roman prison during the early 60’s AD: Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Philemon and Laodiceans (this letter did not survive). It is interesting to note that Paul spent a short time in a Philippian jail (see Acts 16:19-40) and now writes to the church from prison. This church had supported him on multiple occasions, so he had a special affinity for them. The church saw him as an ambassador of Christ, but he uttered the oracles of God with great authority. They treated him with great praise. Paul wanted them to develop the same measure of convictions that he had, and it began with an understanding of the work of God inside each believer. In Philippians 1:6, For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus . God will complete His work. So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed [ hupakouo – taken heed], not as in my presence only,...
Read more