Category Archives: Christian Life

Two helpful sermon outlines

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I mentioned in yesterday’s post a couple of helpful sermon outlines in the flyleaves of an old Bible. I wanted to share them because they are so helpful and practical. Unfortunately I did not date them, but they were from sermons by Dr. Mark Minnick, whose ministry we sat under and were blessed by from about 1979 to 1993 or so. These are just the “bare bones” of the messages. One explains why baptism does not save us, and the other is about confession of sin.

Neither of these is meant to be an exhaustive study of every verse on the topic. If anything doesn’t make sense or sound right, it is most likely due to my faulty note-taking.

Why We Know Baptism Does Not Save

1. Paul makes a distinction between baptism and the gospel:

I Corinthians 1:14-17: “I thank God that I baptized none of you, but Crispus and Gaius; Lest any should say that I had baptized in mine own name. And I baptized also the household of Stephanas: besides, I know not whether I baptized any other. For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.”

2. Baptism isn’t included in the definition of the gospel:

I Corinthians 15:3-4: “For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures…”

3. The condition for baptism is belief: belief comes first:

Acts 8:36: “And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water: and the eunuch said, See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized?

37 And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”

4. I Peter 3: 20 says that baptism is “not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God.” In itself it doesn’t cleanse us: it is usually just the first act of obedience after salvation.

5. Our salvation is by grace, through faith, not through any works of ours.

Ephesians 2:8-9: “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.”

Isaiah 64:6: “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.”

Galatians 2:16: “Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.”

Titus 3:5: “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost.”

Baptism is immensely important as a symbol of our identification with Christ, but it is symbolic. (For more on this subject, this is an excellent explanation).

Confession of Sin

What is sin?

1. Failure to glorify God

2. Failure to believe God

Hebrews 11:6: “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.”

Romans 14:23b: “Whatsoever is not of faith is sin.”

— Making decisions out of a faithless heart.

— Acting apart from faith.

— Letting fears keep us from doing what we ought to do.

3. Failure to do good.

James 4:17: “Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.”

4. Failure to do righteousness.

I John 5:17a: “All unrighteousness is sin.”

5. Acting against conscience.

–Offending the conscience of self or others.

— An act not done on good faith before God.

Romans 14:22-23: “Hast thou faith? have it to thyself before God. Happy is he that condemneth not himself in that thing which he alloweth. And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith: for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.”

I Corinthians 8:12: “But when ye sin so against the brethren, and wound their weak conscience, ye sin against Christ.”

6. Offense against the law.

I John 3:4: “Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.”

Consequences of sin and failure to confess

1. Broken fellowship.

2. Lost prosperity: Proverbs 28:13: “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.” (See also Psalm 38, I Corinthians 11:23-32, James 5:14-20.) (My aside: this isn’t saying all trouble is a result of sin in the life of the person experiencing the trouble [e.g., Job] but all sin in the life will bring trouble.)

3. Irremedial chastisement: II Chronicles 36:16: “But they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and misused his prophets, until the wrath of the LORD arose against his people, till there was no remedy.”

Why people do not confess sin

1. They reject God’s definitions.

2. They rationalize away their guilt.

— Psalm 50:21

— They don’t “feel convicted,” they think they’re a special case, they were born with the problem. The point is, what does God’s Word say about it?

— They’ve shut their ears from hearing Him for so long that they don’t hear Him any more.

— Romans 2:1-5: They have experienced His goodness and forbearance and therefore think they are all right instead of realizing He is being gracious.

3. Pride

— Proverbs 16:18: “Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.”

— Luke 18:9-14: the publican and the Pharisee. “Every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.”

4. Fear of consequences

— Leviticus 26:40-42: “If they shall confess their iniquity, and the iniquity of their fathers, with their trespass which they trespassed against me, and that also they have walked contrary unto me; And that I also have walked contrary unto them, and have brought them into the land of their enemies; if then their uncircumcised hearts be humbled, and they then accept of the punishment of their iniquity: Then will I remember my covenant with Jacob, and also my covenant with Isaac, and also my covenant with Abraham will I remember; and I will remember the land.”

Remedy

Proverbs 28:13: “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.”

I John 1:9: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

This isn’t in these notes, but I have heard many times over that to confess here means to say the same thing about our sin that God does: not to sugarcoat it, make excuses, downplay it, but to acknowledge that what we did was a sin against God.

Flyleaf favorites

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My alarm clock didn’t go off Sunday afternoon, so I woke up from my nap about an hour later than usual, about 20 minutes before church was due to start. Needless to say, I was late. Jim and the boys went on ahead while I finished getting ready. He had my Bible, but I grabbed another, older one because sometimes if I am very late I stay in the lounge in the ladies’ room, where there are some chairs and couches, or on a bench in the lobby so as not to distract from the preaching.

This older Bible was on the verge of falling apart, but it was a treasured friend for several years. I began looking at notes I had jotted on the front and back flyleaf pages — in fact there were several blank pages in the back for just that purpose. It was a blessing to go over some of those quotes and notes I hadn’t thought about for years.

One near the front is Jonathan Goforth’s Seven Rules for Daily Living, which, according to this note, he wrote in the flyleaf of his Bible in 1894.

1. Seek to give much — expect nothing.
2. Put the very best construction on the actions of others.
3. Never let a day pass without at least a quarter of an hour spent in the study of the Bible.
4. Never omit daily morning and evening private prayer and devotion.
5. In all things seek to know God’s Will and when known obey at any cost.
6. Seek to cultivate a quiet prayerful spirit.
7. Seek each day to do or say something to further Christianity among the heathen.

All worth remembering!

Here is something from a beloved former pastor, Jesse Boyd, now with the Lord, for whom our Jesse was named:

Worship without service is a hollow farce.
Service without worship is a hectic fervor.
But worship which issues in service is a holy force.

That says so much so succinctly.

There are places in the back where I put a topic heading and then added pertinent verses as I found them. There are verses to help when afraid, verses that showed the Trinity, verses about the Deity of Christ, and verses that refute hyper-Calvinism. There are sermon notes about the baptism of the Holy Spirit, confession of sin (this one is really enlightening: I might make it a separate post one day), what kind of healing is meant in Isa. 53 when it says, “By His stripes we are healed,” and why baptism does not save. The last one was really helpful to me because there are a couple of verses that almost make it sound like baptism saves. I am debating with myself as to whether to make that a separate post or to include it here. I don’t want it to get lost down here, so I think I will post it separately one day this week.

There are multitudes of little notes and quotes from sermons or from study throughout this Bible, too, but many are squished into teeny spaces and margins with not the best handwriting in the first place. But the ones on the flyleaves have been standout for many years and I have referred to them often. Jesse even told me that when he used this Bible for a while, Jonathan Goforth’s rules spoke to him.

The only note I have on the flyleaf of my current Bible is a list of verses dealing with assurance of salvation from a sermon or a study of I John.

How about you? Any inspirational quotes or sermon notes on your Bible flyleaves?

Poetry Friday

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Seeing Poetry Friday around the Internet has revived my love of poetry. I never really stopped loving it, but I stopped exploring it, content when a gem was found in my path. But now I am going back to old favorites and finding new ones.

One of the poets I most enjoyed learning about while I was in college was John Donne, an Anglican priest converted from Roman Catholicism, who is known as a metaphysical poet. According to this article that simply means he compared “two vastly unlike ideas into a single idea, often using imagery,” as opposed to “the conceits found in other Elizabethan poetry, most notably Petrarchan conceits, which formed clichéd comparisons between more closely related objects (such as a rose and love).” Most of his poems focus on love, death, or religion, the last “a matter of great importance to Donne. Donne argued that it was better carefully to examine one’s religious convictions than blindly to follow any established tradition, for none would be saved at the Final Judgment by claiming ‘a Philip, or a Gregory, A Harry, or a Martin taught [them] this‘” (Greenblatt, Stephen. The Norton anthology of English literature Eighth edition. W. W. Norton and Company, 2006. pp. 600–602.)

I enjoyed reading several of Donne’s poems, but the one I wanted to share today is “A Hymn to God the Father”:

Wilt thou forgive that sin, where I begun,
which is my sin, though it were done before?
Wilt thou forgive those sins through which I run,
and do run still, though still I do deplore?
When thou hast done, thou hast not done,
for I have more.

Wilt thou forgive that sin, by which I won
others to sin, and made my sin their door?
Wilt thou forgive that sin which I did not shun
a year or two, but wallowed in a score?
When thou hast done, thou hast not done,
for I have more.

I have a sin of fear that when I’ve spun
my last thread, I shall perish on the shore;
swear by thyself, that at my death thy Son
shall shine as he shines now, and heretofore.
And having done that, thou hast done,
I fear no more.

According to this source, the multiple use of the word “done” was a play on his own name, which was pronounced the same way. I think many Christians have gone through this process of confessing sin only to realize “I have more,” but thank God “where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 5: 20b-21.)

Poetry Friday is hosted at Charlotte’s Library today.

By the way, Poetry Friday participants are very careful about copyright restrictions: if I refer to a modern poem and would deprive the author of potential income by copying his poem, I would only quote a few lines and link back to his site. But with older poems like this, they are quoted in multiple places on the Internet and in textbooks, and the copyrights involved, as far as I can tell, apply to the text about the poem rather than the original poem (and if I quote any of their comments I link back to them as well). Someone please correct me if I am wrong on that understanding.

Faithful in little things

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The following quotes are from today’s reading of Joy and Strength compiled by Mary Wilder Tileston:

It is required in stewards that a man be found faithful.
–1 CORINTHIANS 4:2

TOO many people are not faithful in little things. They are not to be absolutely depended upon. They do not always keep their promises. They break engagements. They fail to pay their debts promptly. They come behind time to appointments. They are neglectful and careless in little things. In general they are good people, but their life is honeycombed with small failures. One who can be positively depended upon, who is faithful in the least things as well as in the greatest, whose life and character are true through and through, gives out a light in this world which honors Christ and blesses others.
–J. R. MILLER

Duties retire evermore from the observation of those who slight them.
–SARAH W. STEPHEN

Great thoughts go best with common duties. Whatever therefore may be your office regard it as a fragment in an immeasurable ministry of love.
–BROOKE FOSS WESTCOTT

Book Review: Children of the Storm

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Some of you may remember the name of Georgi Vins. He was a Ukrainian pastor in prison for his “religious activities” in the Soviet Union several years ago. I was a BJU student praying for him in the Slavic Mission Prayer Band in the late 70s, and it was with great joy I heard years later that he had been exiled to the USA in exchange for Soviet spies.  Children of the Storm, written by his daughter, Natasha, and published by BJU Press, tells of her perspective during those years of persecution.

Natasha was about nine years old when persecution began in her school (though ridicule of Christianity had begun years before), and it seemed to increase as the years went by. Teachers would hold her up for ridicule in front of her classmates and blame her for her class’s not making it into certain competitions. She was assigned to write a report on a boy held up as a Soviet hero who turned his father in to the KGB for keeping back a little of his grain for his starving family. The other children began to taunt and threaten her or just avoid her. She was threatened with being removed from her home and “re-educated.” These things struck a chord with me when I first read this book because my youngest was at the age Natasha was when some of this was happening, and I just could not imagine him going through these things. Yet as it all struck me as so sad, the Lord reminded me that He marvelously kept her through that time. And she was not even saved yet!

In later years she had a teacher who had similar interests, befriended her, was kind to her, and then began to undermine her Christian beliefs. This time Natasha listened, thought some of what her teacher said made sense, and began to question. When her father came home from a prison camp and she had an opportunity, she talked with him. Imagine coming home from being in prison for your faith to have your own daughter question your faith. Yet he did not express anger or disappointment: he just answered her questions as best he could. Not long afterward Natasha was saved.

At this time and place one truly had to count the cost of following Christ. Natasha was denied finishing her studies in her field of choice because of her Christianity. Her father had had to go “underground” by this time and sent word that he would like her to join him in the printing ministry. She helped for many years in vital ways, and even got to see her father here and there. Once they were to meet with someone who at the last minute had to postpone meeting with them for a couple of hours. Natasha and her father used the time to walk around the city and talk. He thought it highly likely that he would be arrested again, and his talks with her that day helped her to make it through the time when he was indeed arrested. Imagine having to prepare your child not for the remote possibility but for the very real likelihood of your imprisonment…and to do so in a way that does not leave her mourning or sad or bitter or feeling sorry for you or herself, but leaves her strengthened and resting in the Lord.

Natasha’s grandmother was also arrested when she was in her sixties and thought she would die in prison, yet the Lord delivered her.

The book tells also of Natasha’s mother and siblings, of visits to her father and grandmother in prison, of the persecuted church, of struggling to maintain a Christian attitude toward persecutors, of their reaction when her father was suddenly and unexpectedly exiled, of the family’s preparing to join him, of their impressions of America: one of the younger siblings was astounded that everyone carried Bibles to church. Natasha wept upon seeing a Christian bookstore. They left Russia with sorrow because it was their homeland, but before too long they began to see how the Lord could use them in the USA.

The epilogue of the book tells of the Lord’s help through their adjustments to the US, and then opportunities for ministry by publishing newsletters and several books and establishing a mission. After 11 years of exile, in 1990, Pastor Vins was able to make several return trips to the former Soviet Union, visiting and preaching openly, discussing with church leaders how the mission in America could best help them. He passed away Jan. 11, 1998, leaving not only a continuing ministry, but a legacy of godly man and his family.

Book Review: It Happens Every Spring

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Gary Chapman and Catherine Palmer coauthored It Happens Every Spring, the first of a series, in order to illustrate through fiction some of Chapman’s teachings about dealing with seasons of marriage. I don’t think I have read any of Chapman’s books, but I have enjoyed several of Palmer’s.

The group of ladies in different stages of marriage meet in the “Just As I Am” beauty salon (though I love the truth of the song by the same name, I thought it was kind of ironic for the name of a place where people go to change something about themselves) which also has a tea room where the ladies chat while waiting for their appointments.  Though we see glimpses into all of the marriages, the main focus of this book is on Brenda and Steve, a middle-aged couple whose children are grown and gone, one to the mission field and two to college. Brenda’s dreams of spending their empty nest years doing things together are dimmed when Steve finds a second wind in a new career and is gone from the house most of the time, even taking clients out to eat most evenings a week. They both know that they have problems, but they both withdraw and inwardly blame the other, until the resulting vulnerability of Brenda brings the marriage to a crisis.

I thought the subject was handled well and the changes in point of view illustrated how each other’s behavior looked and was interpreted by the other. The conflicts and feelings were realistically expressed and handled. The other ladies show a great range in ages and personalities as well as seasons in relationships. Even though in some places it seemed obvious that the plot was fitted around Chapman’s teaching points, overall if flowed well and the book was a good read. I am looking forward to the next in the series.

This book review is being linked to Semicolon’s Saturday Review of Books.

When someone tells me I am doing something wrong…

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…what should my response be?

Well, my usual (inward) reaction is to think, “Who do you think YOU are?” or to think of their flaws. Not a very spiritual reaction, is it?

On the one hand we all know we are far from perfect, but on the other hand, we bristle when anyone points out an imperfection. Really, we should just be grateful it doesn’t happen as often as it could.

These days we feel that if anyone tries to reprove us about anything, they’re judging. But what does the Bible say?

As an earring of gold, and an ornament of fine gold, so is a wise reprover upon an obedient ear. Proverbs 11:12.

Reprove not a scorner, lest he hate thee: rebuke a wise man, and he will love thee. Proverbs 9:8.

The way of a fool is right in his own eyes: but he that hearkeneth unto counsel is wise. Proverbs 12:15.

A wise son heareth his father’s instruction: but a scorner heareth not rebuke. Proverbs 13:1.

The ear that heareth the reproof of life abideth among the wise. He that refuseth instruction despiseth his own soul: but he that heareth reproof getteth understanding. Proverbs 15:31-31.

A reproof entereth more into a wise man than an hundred stripes into a fool. Proverbs 17:10.

Seest thou a man wise in his own conceit? there is more hope of a fool than of him. Proverbs 26:12.

What if the reprover isn’t very kind about it? Though there are instructions throughout Scripture about how to rebuke someone in a right way, there is also throughout Scripture the principle that I am supposed to do what’s right regardless of what the other person does. In all of the instructions in Ephesians 5 and 6 about relationships, it does not say, “You do this IF he does that.” No, each person is responsible for the instructions given to him or her whether the other person fulfills his or her responsibilities as instructed. And in this, too, just because someone doesn’t correct us in a “right” way doesn’t mean we’re off the hook and can write off whatever they’re saying.

But what if the person really is judging? We just can’t please everyone. Wherever our convictions are, someone will always be more conservative, and usually in a heartfelt rather than a Pharisaical way, even if that might be what they sound like — usually they do have some reason for the convictions they have. Romans 14:3 does say, “Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not; and let not him which eateth not judge him that eateth: for God hath received him” in regard to the disputations over eating meat, and we can extract that principle of not judging the one whose convictions are looser than ours or despising the one whose convictions are stricter than ours and apply it to other areas of difference where the Bible doesn’t give clear instructions. But Paul does go on in the rest of that chapter to make the case that sometimes we need to restrain ourselves even from something we might feel it is all right to do if it offends someone else. Paul says in I Corinthians 8:12-13, “But when ye sin so against the brethren, and wound their weak conscience, ye sin against Christ. Wherefore, if meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend.”

How unlike the spirit of many Christians in this age, in which the attitude is often, “If you’ve got a problem with something I am doing, it is YOUR problem and you’re being a judgmental hypocritical Pharisee.” And then often each side creates schisms by trying to drum up supporting opinions from others.

Christ did have harsh words for true Pharisees, but if you study out those instances in Scripture, it was a far different situation than what we have today when one earnest Christian approaches another about something in his or her conduct. The Pharisees were not true believers and were basing their acceptance before God on their excessive works, rituals, and rites that went far beyond what God outlined in the Old Testament law. It is totally uncalled for to name another Christian brother among their ranks just because he has a different view of things than we do.

So how should I respond if someone tells me I am doing something wrong? In meekness, not anger and defensiveness, I should assume they have the best intentions and examine what they say, bringing it before the Lord to see if it is something truly wrong, or if it is something that is all right, but I should refrain myself for the sake of that person’s conscience. If it is something I still free to do, I should still react kindly to the person doing the rebuking. Maybe they can accept that the issue is an honest and allowable difference of opinion; maybe not. But they are a lot more likely to if we handle the matter with grace (even though it stings) than if we react harshly.

If we’re truly in the right, we have the example of Christ to emulate in I Peter 2:

19 For this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully.

20 For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God.

21 For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps:

22 Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth:

23 Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously:

24 Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.

25 For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.

What shall we do?

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I am in the book of John for my devotions just now, and this morning I came across this passage, a conversation that took place when the people among the 5,000 who were miraculously fed came looking for Jesus the next day:

26 Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled.

27 Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed.

28 Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?

29 Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.

That last verse is one of the most precious to me. There is no other “work,” no ritual, no hoping the good things outweigh the bad that will make me acceptable to God.

No merit of my own His anger to suppress.
My only hope is found in Jesus’ righteousness.

For me He died, For me He lives,
And everlasting life and light He freely gives.

(Words and music by Norman J. Clayton)

Green Leaf in Drought

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In 1950, Arthur and Wilda Mathews and their 13 month old baby, Lilah, traveled to Hwangyuan, China. China had fallen to Communism, and other missionaries were leaving, yet the Chinese church had invited them to come, with the approval of the Communist government. They felt this was a miraculously opened door God would have them go through.. Yet, when they arrived, they could sense that all was not well. The Christians pastors who met them were strained, and they discerned that between the time of their invitation and arrival, the Chinese learned that association with the white people would be a liability under Communism, not a asset. The Mathews thought perhaps then that, if they could not be a help to the church, they could endeavor to evangelize the unreached Mongols in the area and nearby. They had a few weeks in which to minister, but soon found that they were restricted in ways they could help. They endeavored to set up an inn with which to reach the Mongols, but Chinese troops took it over the day before it was to open. Arthur protested, but soon found it would have been wiser to have said nothing. In two days a policeman came to the mission compound to announce that no one there could do village work without permission, and the white people were forbidden everything: they could not have meetings outside the compound, they could not give out tracts or dispense medicine. They were restricted to the mission compound.

They finally decided that since they were more of a hindrance than a help, they would apply for exit visas. They thought, since the government did not want them, they would be allowed to leave quickly, and so gave away or sold dishes, curtains, etc., keeping just the bare minimum to function until they could leave. Arthur was summoned to the police station and asked to sign a statement that he was for world peace. He had heard of another missionary having to sign some document before leaving, so he signed without thinking much of it. The government official then asked what contribution Arthur was then willing to make toward world peace, outlining a plan in which Arthur would go to India and essentially be a Communist spy. Arthur realized that the Communist definition of world peace was a world dominated by communism, and of course could not consent.

A government official called Arthur in and promised his exit visas if he would do something for them, like write a report of five other missionaries. At first Arthur did write glowing reports of the missionaries in question, but someone told him he dare not turn that in: the Communists would change what he had written but keep his signature. So Arthur threw his report in the fire and told the official he could not be a Judas. The official then told him that he could have given him a pass, if he had cooperated, but now a charge had been laid against him which must be investigated, and “investigations take a long time.”

Thus began a two and a half year ordeal. Their provisions from their mission were frozen by the government, which made Arthur submit a report of what he would need, and then they doled out to him much less than what the report said he needed. Every victory they mentioned in a letter seemed to be immediately challenged by the enemy of their souls: once when they wrote what a blessing Lilah was, she then came down with scarlet fever, and they almost lost her. All of them had turns being ill. Eventually they were told that no one could speak to them, and they could only leave home to draw water from the creek and get food.

They wrestled with the “what-ifs” and the frustration of what they called “second causes,” finally coming to the conclusion that they had to trust that the Lord was in control and had them there for a reason, though it was hard to discern that reason when they were so restricted. Yet the Lord did use them even when they could not speak to the people. The few weeks they had had to minister before restrictions set in, people knew their hearts and saw their love. When the Mathews could no longer speak openly, the people saw them in tattered clothes, persecuted, attacked by illness without much medical aid, laughed at, jeered, humiliated, doing menial, degrading work just to survive, tantalized by the government offering release and then not giving it or doling out money that was theirs in the first place. They saw the Lord provide miraculously for them in many ways. Yet more than that, they saw them endure graciously and joyfully until, finally, the Mathews became the last CIM missionaries to leave China.

How the Lord provided for them and ministered through them in unexpected ways are some of the most exciting parts of the book Isobel Kuhn wrote of their story titled Green Leaf in Drought. She says,

But most amazing of all was their spiritual vigour. Whence came it? Not from themselves: no human being could go through such sufferings and come out so sweet and cheerful. As I was in a small prayer meeting… one prayed thus: ‘O Lord, keep their leaf green in times of drought!’ I knew in a moment that this was the answer. Jeremiah 17:8: “He shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.” That was it! There was an unseen Source of secret nourishment, which the Communists could not find and from which they could not cut them off…That is needed by all of us. Your drought may not be caused by Communism, but the cause of the drying up of life’s joys is incidental. When they dry up — is there, can we find, a secret Source of nourishment that the deadly drought cannot reach?…Is it possible for a Christian to put forth green leaves when all he enjoys in this life is drying up around him?

The answer, by God’s grace, is yes!

Poetry Friday: To a Waterfowl

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I have always enjoyed poetry, but I have neglected it in recent years. I have enjoyed seeing Poetry Friday selections at Findings and Semicolon, but this is my first time to participate.

I probably first read William Cullen Bryant’s poem “To a Waterfowl” in college, but the first time it really stood out to me was when Elisabeth Elliot quoted some of these stanzas in her book The Savage My Kinsman after her husband’s death.


Whither, ‘midst falling dew,
While glow the heavens with the last steps of day,
Far, through their rosy depths, dost thou pursue
Thy solitary way?

There is a Power whose care
Teaches thy way along that pathless coast,–
The desert and illimitable air,–
Lone wandering, but not lost.

Thou’rt gone, the abyss of heaven
Hath swallowed up thy form; yet, on my heart
Deeply hath sunk the lesson thou hast given,
And shall not soon depart.

He, who, from zone to zone,
Guides through the boundless sky thy certain flight,
In the long way that I must tread alone,
Will lead my steps aright.

As a young wife then I empathized with Elisabeth’s picking up and going forward in the comfort of God’s care after the loss of her husband and was comforted with the thought that, if the Lord should ever ask me to “tread alone,” He would lead me and care for me, too. Even within 28 years of marriage, there have been many days of treading alone while my husband traveled, and I have been comforted to know that I am never truly alone.

The rest of the poem, which describes Bryant’s observation and thoughts of the bird’s activity, can be found here along with some instructive links. Becky’s Book Reviews is hosting Poetry Friday today.