find it." Only love is life and only Cod is love. Our love faculties are used by God who is the eternal Lover. He does not make us loving but He loves through us. In I John 4:17 we read, "As He is, so are we in this world." He is in this world always as the Redeem er. He is the One who gives His life for others. Even in nature we see that everything has a life of its own which is eventually given us to become something for others. The corn of wheat has only one reason for its existence and that is to bear the harvest. This is what Christ meant. So the deep signifi cance of the mature Christian life is not simply being a saved soul. Christ said, "Unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have no life in me." He was saying con cerning Himself that He was to be a sacrifice for the world. Those who turned their backs on Him were not particularly interested in fol lowing Someone who was going to die for others. You see, we are not called to make sacrifices but to be the sacrifice. At the moment of salvation, one is immediately filled by the in dwelling Spirit of Cod and directed outward to others. By nature we are consumers. All life is just the world supplying me with my needs. But the mature Christian is one who recognizes that his life wholly be longs to others. He has completely forfeited the world. Love must save; love must give to be loved. God never ceases to be love. In this sense He had to save us. We certainly do not have love of this variety. It is only as the eternal God who is love lives within us that we can meet the needs of others. We had an individual who came to our London headquarters de
siring to have fellowship about his spiritual needs. While there he learned that we needed 50 new missionaries and some $25,000 for the initial cost of sending them to the various fields of West Africa which we were developing at that time. He went home and we thought little more about him. him. Then one day a letter arrived. Out of it fell a check for $30,000. We looked at the signature and were deeply surprised at the young man's gift. We put the gift back in an envelope and sent it to him with the urging, "You are a young man only 21. Do not do anything you will be sorry for later. Wait on Cod and be perfectly sure that He really wants you to give this vast sum." Back came a letter with the check. He penned, "Thanks for giving me the opportunity of wait ing upon Cod further. I should have told you that I had already met with the Lord who said when I got back home I should take this step of faith. He told me, "I am the Cod of the impossible. You do what is possible and leave the rest to me." Then there was a remark able statement which followed. "I was so thrilled that by the time I got out my check book I added another $5,000 just for sheer, joy. What better way to use up my re sources?" This dedicated young man was so filled with joy that he could not hold back. He gave over and above. This is the whole point. Cod works in our lives and puts into us the "want" to do His will. He supplies the joy and thrill in the doing of it. So the essence is that God gives Himself to us, not just His gifts. He then settles down to be that self-giving love to oth ers that He always and only is! Page 33
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