~ Willing vs. Willed ~
Do you
understand desire?
The following is an
excerpt from a book.
“That
delight—in God—is the thing that brings desire in the heart to do good, and
desire is beneath everything. If there is no desire to do God’s will, then the
doing of God’s will is just outward conformity, and God doesn’t appreciate it
at all.
“Now desire
is more than just willingness. I once worked for the Foreign Missions
Fellowship, which is a group of collegiate kids who are considering going to
the mission field. You know, every time I would talk to some Christians in
college, their big cry about the mission field was, ‘Well you know, I’m willing
to go. I’m quite willing to go to the mission field. Very willing to go.
Willing. But I need a call from God (or some such thing) because I don’t feel
as if I’m sent to the mission field.’ Well, I’m telling you that passive
willingness is not desire. I was willing to go to the mission field a long time
before I willed to go to the mission field. And it is the desire of the will
that God wants.
“Desire is
the putting of my will into God’s concern. It’s not a passive, sitting back in
your easy chair, folding your arms sort of thing, which says, ‘Well, I’m
willing, if God would only give me a good swift kick and send me.’ That’s
willingness all right. But God doesn’t want willingness, He wants will! He
wants your will put behind those desires.”
~
from “JIM ELLIOT: A Christian Martyr
Speaks to You” edited by Robert Lloyd Russell, pg 25 (ISBN: 9781615797646)
Learn more about this important book at Amazon, the
Publisher,
or the Author’s
website.
~
Robert Lloyd Russell, ABUNDANT
LIFE NOW
