Two trends I have noticed. First, a concern about apathy. Second, a
desire for revival. Revival will come when the Gospel is heard, and
apathy will die when the Christ, who came full of grace and truth, takes
over lives.
Truth: we are sinners. Grace: God is mighty to save. Truth without grace leads to apathy. We are totally lost, so why bother? Grace without truth leads to apathy. I'm okay, and even the little things are cleaned up. Why should I care if the world is going down the drain? I'm safe. Grace and truth: we were poor, a widow, an orphan, yet Christ is our riches, Christ is our husband, God is our father. Because that is who we once were, and because Christ saved us from that, so now image him to the world--go and do likewise.
But I desire more than just a cure for apathy. Revival is likely to bring persecution, so we ought prepare, and seek a revival that brings such passion as to bring us through any suffering. We must see the life that we have in Jesus, and the joy we have in him, and see the life we have in this present age, and the pain which we might be threatened with, and see that the first so overshadows the other as to make the pain and suffering of this age itself become a joy to bear because it shows how great our God is, because our suffering in this life for the souls of the lost is a picture of the immense suffering which Christ underwent for our lost souls, and because if the world does not hate us, then it is not seeing what it saw in Christ that it crucified him for.
I wonder why people want revival? Is it because they think that will make life easier or because they want to see God get more glory?
ReplyDeleteI doubt they think it will make life easier, if so they will be disappointed. Maybe they just know something is missing? At any rate, does it matter? "John said to him, “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name,f and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us.” But Jesus said, “Do not stop him, for no one who does a mighty work in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me. For the one who is not against us is for us. For truly, I say to you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ will by no means lose his reward." Mark 9:38-41. I cannot say how many realize that their prayers are prayers that may be answered by a new wave of persecution, but let them pray their prayers. When it comes they will see what it was they were asking for, and perhaps a revival will consist in part in preparing them for what that entails.
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