DEAR ONE OF THE MANY:
Your letter that appeared in the February MINISTRY magazine was both tragic and encouraging. Tragic, for it truly does express the dilemma that so many, both young and old, find themselves in today void of a personal knowledge of God and Jesus Christ. Encouraging, however, in that the hunger for God is still there. This is wonderful! Jesus said of such individuals, "Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled" (Matt. 5:6).
As a minister of the gospel I wish to share with you a few thoughts that came to mind as I read your letter.
I wish I had the magic recipe to prepare the nourishing food that would satisfy all at the same time, but I must confess I don't have it. Besides, are we not a great deal like children? We don't like squash or spinach; we don't care for prophecy, or sermons on tithing; the study of the sanctuary is too deep; and who can understand or see any value in the 2300-day prophecy?
"Ah," you say, "feed us sermons based upon Christ that we might come to know Him as we should. This is what we need."
But the above-mentioned sermons are Christ-centered sermons. As gluten can be prepared and served in many ways, so can Christ be presented in many different ways. Each presentation of Christ will appeal to some and not to others.
As far as that spiritual hunger is concerned, we can never expect it to be entirely satisfied even throughout eternity! We will ever be learning new and wonderful truths about God and Jesus Christ.
But here on earth how can we come to know Him better? There is no better way than through study. It isn't easy, but that is the way it is.
The prophet Jeremiah wrote: "And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart" (Jer. 29:13). That means we are to search for God with all our heart, not in some halfhearted way.
We must long for a knowledge of God and Christ and we must dig for that revelation as we would dig for gold!
We must also recognize that we cannot know all there is to know about the Godhead. Read Isaiah 40:28; Deuteronomy 29:29; and Romans 11:33.
But, you say, can't we have a little clearer vision of our Saviour that we can share with others? Yes, we may, and there is no better way to catch that vision than by sharing one's faith, no matter how small it is. Questions will arise, opposition will come, but these obstacles will drive us still deeper into the mine of God's Word for more precious knowledge, and thus we will grow day by day.
I know you speak for many Seventh-day Adventists, both young and old, when you express your spiritual hunger. Sabbath after Sabbath you come to the house of God expecting to be filled, only to leave unsatisfied. What is wrong?
May I ask what it is that you expect a knowledge of God and of Christ to do for you? This could well be the source of your disappointment.
Do you expect miracles? an electrifying experience? a mysterious moving force to compel you to knock on doors even without a message? a force that will lift you above the laws of nature, and suddenly fill you with a superior knowledge of God? I'm sure you recognize that this is not the way God works.
With some, the unfulfilled desires may be due to a lack of complete surrender. We wish to do great things, but aren't willing to pay the price. We desire to be Peters and Pauls, but we cannot, perhaps because of some secret sin or some skeleton in the closet. These could very well block God from using us as we would like.
I pray quite often a little prayer that goes something like this: "I am sorry, Father, that I am not the quality material, due to my own weakness and failures, that you can use in a mighty way to finish the work in the world."
I may not be of much value to the cause of God at the E resent time, but the desire to be of value is always there urning all the time. My time for greater service may not yet have come, so what do I do in the meantime? I study. Every moment I have, I study, cram, read, pray, filling my mind with as much knowledge of God as I can. Someday, I hope, the Lord will remember me and say, "Now I can use you in wider service."
If you are disappointed in your Christian experience, feeling you deserve more, don't totally blame your church or your pastor. Take a look inside. Examine yourself, your longings, your expectations, your motives, your own life. You may find some of the problem within.
May I share one other thought with you. We must accept the fact that God made redwood trees, scrub oaks, and the grass of the field. Some are towering giants in proclaiming the message; others witness in ways of lesser magnitude. These we might liken to the scrub oaks. Still others bless the hungry eyes of their fellow men by the peaceful, consistent, appealing beauty of the Christ-filled life.
All of us cannot be redwoods, or even scrub oaks. Some of us must be content with a lesser role in fulfilling the will of God.
So what is the solution? I suggest the reassuring words of Paul. Listen closely to his counsel and appeal:
Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward. For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul (Heb. 10:35-39).
May God help us each one to catch that fuller vision of God and Christ we do so desperately need, that together we may, young and old, find fulfillment of God's expectations and our desires.
Your friend in Christ,
A STRIVING PASTOR
