pose. It has so often been true that when an attitude of trust in The Expert allows a work of spiritual genius to begin, we have become jealous and possessive, and a vital work becomes an evangelical fos sil. Finally, and most strangely in the "throw-away" age, God's work was built to last for eternity. On the mission field, at home and abroad, we are in a hurry to meas ure the results of our efforts but conveniently blind to their tempor ary nature. The world-wide decline of the church will not be halted by forcing mass response that is only skin deep. The more we are panicked into emergency opera tions to save an ailing church, the weaker the patient becomes. The creativity of the Creator alone gives new life.
the local church or the overseas mission field to what we consider to be possible? Thirdly at the end of each phase of creation we are told God saw that it was good, and when the whole work was completed, it was very good (Genesis 1:31). Christ's own creative work in and through His body, the Church, will always be superbly good. Above all it will be distinguished by its superlative spiritual, moral and technical qual ity. His work will never comprom ise His holiness by cutting incon venient ethical corners as our work so often does. The fourth feature of the Crea tor's work was its orderliness as design emerged from chaos. It is strange then how our spiritual en deavors, particularly in evangelism, so often leave a trail of chaos and confusion that springs from an in adequate gospel. Traditional meth ods have often used organized or der to stifle life and today there is a reaction against organization. Such a reaction may be necessary but organizational chaos can also choke life! Overorganization is a human attempt to insure against the embarrassment of failure. Cod's orderliness is often only apparent as His plan emerges in action; but we can confidently expect that such order will characterize Christ's work through us when we pause long enough to look back and see what He has been doing. Fifthly, though orderly, Cod's creational work was not rigid, it was flexible, able to be adapted step by step as His creation con tinued. When the moment for man's arrival had come the scene was ideally set, exactly appropri ate to his needs and God's pur
Dr. Hanne is the Director of Capernwray Bible School in New Zealand.
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