CHALLENGES OF THE 21ST CENTURY continued
“It is not a question of learning a thing outside, but of determination inside.” Oswald Sanders
I spoke in a church on John 4:34 where Jesus mentioned to His disciples that His food was to do the will of the Father. I brought out that one of the reasons (perhaps the main reason) we do not see more being done for the Kingdom sake is because of a lack of ‘will.’
Moving into the 21st century to not only meet the challenges that lie ahead, but to see the Kingdom of God advance will take men/women of character. I have been writing about different aspects of character. What we need today are men/women of determination.
A lack in the church of Jesus Christ today is determination. We have a tendency to quit, especially if the way is hard or not what we thought it would be.
A person who lacks determination in their character is like the man of Proverbs 22:13: “The sluggard says, ‘There is a lion outside!’ or, ‘I will be murdered in the streets!’” How often the difficulties stop us. This means that we will never be able to accomplish much because we will always have problems and difficulties in life. Like Billy Graham said, “Life at its best is filled with problems.”
Church history is filled with men and women of determination. They left their mark for God. At the age of 21 Hudson Taylor went to China. Instead of staying on the coast like all of the other missionaries he decided to move inland. By doing so he started what missionaologists now call the second wave of missions, reaching into the inland parts of the world. New mission societies were started like the China Inland Mission that Hudson Taylor founded.
At the age of 52 C.T. Studd went to the Belgian Congo. He had already spent time in India and China. He had to leave his wife behind because of her illness and over the next 18 years he saw her for about two weeks. Praise God for the determination of C.T. Studd. The Gospel is going out in Africa today.
Charles Fuller was a man who preached for thirty or more years on the “Old Fashion Gospel Hour.” Every Sunday his voice was heard by over twenty million people. Fuller started the Fuller Theological Seminary that has been a blessing to thousands of students. The burden of finance was upon him. His wife heard him praying to the Lord to be taken home. The pressure was great. Could this be what the Apostle Paul meant in 2 Corinthians 1:8 “We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about the hardships we suffered in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life.” Yet God did not take him home at that time. Like the Apostle Paul, he instead became a blessing to millions of people. Praise God for his determination.
Amy Carmichael has been a real blessing to my wife and I through the reading of her books. We named our oldest daughter after her: Amy.
In the midst of real difficulties in India Amy Carmichael opened up an orphanage and rescued little girls destined to be temple prostitutes and gave them a new life. She did this at the peril of her own life because she was determined to see something done.
The last nine years of her life she was completely bed-ridden. If you were to go into the room where her bed was you would see the imprints of the bed posts in the stone floor. When my wife and I visited the orphanage we were told that Billy Graham wept when he saw those imprints.
Yet from the bed she penned some of her greatest books and poems relating her love to the Savior. One of her famous lines that I liked very much and in many ways my prayer is the same: “Make me Thy fuel o’ flame of God!” Dead and yet she speaks on through her writings. What an example of determination.
What of the 21st century? Do we have the Hudson Taylors, CT Studds and the Amy Carmichaels being raised up that will not be stopped? I think so.