The books or the music in which we thought the beauty was located will betray us if we trust in them; it was not in them, it only came through them, and what came through was a longing… For they are not the thing itself; they are only the scent of a flower we have not found, the echo of a tune we have not heard, news from a country we have never yet visited.
-C.S. Lewis

From Adoniram Judson:

Beware of the reaction which will take place soon after reaching your field of labor. There you will perhaps find native Christians, of whose merits or demerits you can not judge correctly without some familiar acquaintance with their language. Some appearances will combine to disappoint and disgust you. You will meet with disappointments and discouragements, of which it is impossible to form a correct idea from written accounts, and which will lead you, at first, almost to regret that you have embarked in the cause. You will see men and women whom you have been accustomed to view through a telescope some thousands of miles long. Such an instrument is apt to magnify. Beware, therefore, of the reaction you will experience from a combination of all these causes, lest you become disheartened at commencing your work, or take up a prejudice against some persons and places, which will embitter all your future lives. . . . Beware of the greater reaction which will take place after you have acquired the language, and become fatigued and worn out with preaching the gospel to a disobedient and gainsaying people. You will sometimes long for a quiet retreat, where you can find a respite from the tug of toiling at native work — the incessant, intolerable friction of the missionary grindstone. And Satan will sympathize with you in this matter; and he will present some chapel of ease, in which to officiate in your native tongue, some government situation, some professorship or editorship, some literary or scientific pursuit, some supernumerary translation, or, at least, some system of schools; anything, in a word, that will help you, without much surrender of character, to slip out of real missionary work. Such a temptation will form the crisis of your disease. If your spiritual constitution can sustain it, you recover; if not, you die.

HT: Desiring God

Read Judson’s entire letter here. I was so glad to come across this yesterday via a link on Twitter.

“People who do not know the Lord ask why in the world we waste our lives as missionaries. They forget that they too are expending their lives, and when the bubble has burst they will have nothing of eternal significance to show for the years they have wasted.” – Nate Saint

“Resolved, to live with all my might, while I do live.” – Jonathan Edwards

I went to the Resolved Conference this past weekend. It was awesome. As one of the guys behind the conference mentioned- it’s meant to have an eternal impact on our lives, instead of simply being something we walk away from with mere memories. I’ve been asking the Lord to soften my heart to all that I learned and experienced at the conference, and to help me to obey Him and draw near to Him.

You can find all the media of the conference at the site above. The preaching was passionate and powerful, although I still need to listen to Saturday’s messages. I returned home early in the morning for my 8am graduation from UCLA, and by the time I got back to Palm Springs for the evening session, I was too exhausted to attend it.

The worship was heavenly. Enfield led in worship with reverence, talent, and theology. I was introduced to the hymn, “Jesus, I My Cross Have Taken.” Being a sinner who is too easily distracted, who just graduated, and who lives in LA, the words have been very good for my soul.

Jesus, I my cross have taken,
All to leave and follow Thee;
Destitute, despised, forsaken,
Thou from hence my All shalt be.
Perish every fond ambition,
All I’ve sought or hoped or known;
Yet how rich is my condition!
God and heaven are still my own.

Let the world despise and leave me,
They have left my Savior, too.
Human hearts and looks deceive me;
Thou art not, like them, untrue.
And while Thou shalt smile upon me,
God of wisdom, love, and might,
Foes may hate and friends may shun me;
Show Thy face, and all is bright.

Go, then, earthly fame and treasure!
Come, disaster, scorn, and pain!
In Thy service, pain is pleasure;
With Thy favor, loss is gain.
I have called Thee Abba, Father!
I have stayed my heart on Thee.
Storms may howl, and clouds may gather,
All must work for good to me.

Take, my soul, thy full salvation;
Rise o’er sin and fear and care;
Joy to find in every station,
Something still to do or bear.
Think what Spirit dwells within thee,
What a Father’s smile is thine,
What a Savior died to win thee;
Child of heaven, shouldst thou repine?

Haste, then, on from grace to glory,
Armed by faith and winged by prayer;
Heaven’s eternal day’s before thee,
God’s own hand shall guide thee there.
Soon shall close the earthly mission,
Swift shall pass thy pilgrim days,
Hope soon change to glad fruition,
Faith to sight, and prayer to praise.

This was one of my favorite blogs so I was pretty sad that there were no new posts since March of 2008, but today my reader informed me that Paul Tripp is BACK!

Over a year ago, I read a small book by Amy Carmichael titled “If.” It’s composed of a series of if-then statements, with all of the “if’s” followed by “then I know nothing of Calvary love.” Oh how deeply some of these have struck my soul. I love Spurgeon and Luther and Edwards and all, but I also love finding stuff written by women who set such an example in their radical devotion to the Lord and obedience to His Word.

After I read this book, I typed a lot of it up and sent it to a friend. I like how now when I come across something that strikes me, I could just post it here on the blog. So as I’m reminded of this book yet again, I thought I’d post a few among the many of these if-then statements that both comfort and convict me tonight:

If I belittle those whom I am called to serve, talk of their weak points, in contrast perhaps with what I think of as my strong points; if I adopt a superior attitude, forgetting “who made thee to differ? And what hast thou that thou hast not received?”…

If I can enjoy a joke at the expense of another; if I can in any way slight another in conversation, or even in thought…

If I do not feel far more for the grieved Savior than for my worried self when troublesome things occur…

If I am afraid to speak the truth, lest I lose affection, or lest the concerned should say, “You do not understand,” or because I fear to lose my reputation for kindness; if I put my own good name before the others’ highest good…

If I fear to hold another to the highest goal because it is so much easier to avoid doing so…

If the moment I am conscious of the shadow of self crossing my threshold, I do not shut the door, and in the power of Him who works in us to will and to do, keep that door shut…

If I cannot in honest happiness take the second place (or the twentieth); if I cannot take the first without making a fuss about my unworthiness…

If I feel injured when another lays to my charge things that I know not, forgetting that my Sinless Savior trod this path to the end…

If I feel bitterly towards those who condemn me, as it seems to me, unjustly, forgetting that if they knew me as I know myself they would condemn me much more…

If something I am asked to do for another feels burdensome; if, yielding to an inward unwillingness, I avoid doing it…

If the praise of man elates me and his blame depresses me; if I cannot rest under misunderstanding without defending myself…

If I do not forget about such a trifle as personal success, so that it never crosses my mind, or if it does, is never given a moment’s room there; if the cup of spiritual flattery tastes sweet to me…

If in the fellowship of service, I seek to attach a friend to myself, so that others are caused to feel unwanted; if my friendships do not draw others deeper in, but are ungenerous (i.e., to myself, for myself)…

If I avoid being “plowed under,” with all that such plowing entails of rough handling, isolation, uncongenial situations, strange tests…

If I forget that the way of the cross leads to the cross and not to a bank of flowers…

If I covet any place on earth but the dust at the foot of the cross…

Then I know nothing of Calvary love.