Trembling comes when children of God enter His Holy presence. Trembling comes with my first opening the pages of The Journals of Jim Elliot. For years I have wanted to get this book. For years I have been restrained from getting this book by my not always subconscious trepidations before the Holy God who is more than worthy of our ultimate sacrifice. I finally picked up this book at the recent Desiring God conference.My heart is stirred in the first few pages. By grace my heart longs for more of God and I am anticipating more of Him is to be found on the pages of this book. Fear and trembling mixed with delight and awe. The very name of such saints of God inspire meditations on that old phrase; the blood of martyrs is the seed of the church.
As a teenager I heard my parents tell the stories of Jim and Elisabeth Elliot and their friends. I was powerfully moved then. So much so that I was then cautious of reading books about them. I'm finally taking the plunge into the journals of one who lived the powerful truth of his prophetic quote; He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.
With trembling I recall the testimonies of those who have read books like this, and therefore I understand that one who reads such pages will likely never be the same.
2 comments:
Perhaps the most important lesson I learned from Jim Elliot's journals is how to personalize Scripture. I was very impressed at the extent to which he never failed to apply passages to his life, where I would merely add them to my knowledge.
http://philippianjailer.blogspot.com/2009/08/jim-elliot-martyr-of-ecuador-had.html
Jailer,
Interesting insight.
Indeed I find that the Scriptures speak to me about every aspect of life, and amazingly often even down to the very personal details of my life.
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