“Those who save texts demanding a cross for ‘the deeper
life’ have cheated their hearers in evangelism. Without a cross there is no
following Christ! And without following Christ there is no life at all! An
impression has been given that many enter life through a wide gate of believing
in Jesus. Then a few go through the narrow gate of the cross for deeper
spiritual service. On the contrary, the broad way without self-denial leads to
destruction. All who are saved have entered the fraternity of the cross.”
- The Shadow of the Cross, p. 22
I have been reading this book, The Shadow of the Cross,
lately for my personal devotion, and being challenged by the life of the cross,
and the life of joy, hope, and abundance that comes through living such a
life. Before I make any of my own
comments though, I’d encourage you if you want to go deeper in your walk with
God to read this book. Through
looking at the passages on discipleship and the cross, Walther Chantry describes
a life in Christ as one of self-denial, taking up our cross, and following him.
As I read it, I feel that more of me is being chipped away so that I might
become more and more like Him.
My host father, Pastor Sonny, one of the missionaries with
MMP (Mission Ministry Philippines), said that his mentor, Attorney Ranier Chu,
one of the directors of the organization, tells the missionaries regularly that
they must not grow fond of leaving their ‘desert’ too often. By ‘desert’, he means the slum
community in which the missionaries live and work. Though different in some ways from the actual deserts that
the ‘Desert Fathers’ of the Christian faith spent time in, Attorney Chu and the
director of my MATUL program, Viv Grigg, both see the ‘desert’ of the modern
day ‘Desert Fathers’ being the depressed areas around the world (the world’s
urban poor making up over 1/3 of the worlds population).
Like St. Francis and Mother Theresa (and their orders), the
preaching friars of today have been called to live simply and justly amongst
the world’s poor, not too dissimilar to Jesus’ own ministry as told in the
gospels. Through this surrendered
and sacrificial life, one grows closer to the Lord, and discovers the joy in
taking up their cross on a daily basis. It is a life of prayer, sacrifice,
worship, service, devotion, and the fruit of the Spirit (love, joy, peace,
patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control).
I have experienced first hand over this past month the lives
of these surrendered saints, and am myself learning a lifestyle of personal
sacrifice and devotion. My
‘desert’ is currently in Tatalon (where I live) and Fairview (where I serve),
two places with lots of need spiritually, economically, emotionally, etc. Yet these areas are great for growing
deeper in ones walk with the Lord (including my own), seeing Jesus face to face
on a daily basis (Mt. 25:31-46), and seeking ways to bring about justice in our
world. For me, that looks like
learning to live on $3-5 (that is, minus room and board and education
expenses), seeking to be pure and content in being single, finding regular
rhythms for prayer and reading Scripture, and serving my community through
Bible studies, micro-finance, and simply learning time to learn their language
and culture.
Where are the ‘desert’ areas where you live? I challenged the pastor at my home
church back in the States to encourage his own family and congregation (or at
least a percentage of them), to seek out and even move into some of the
depressed areas in their own city.
It is often the last place we want to go, but the one in which we will
find the most abundant life if only we are obedient. The economically poor have taught me how to be happy with a
little, and these same people, many of whom become heirs of the kingdom and
spiritually rich upon receiving Christ (immediately joining the narrow road and
‘fraternity of the cross’, skipping in its entirety the wide road that I have
seen too often with the economically rich – though that ‘cheap grace’ has also
made its way over here to many churches), have taught me the joy of living in
the grace of Jesus who, “though he was rich, yet for our sakes he became poor,
so that (we), by his poverty, might become rich!” (2 Cor. 8:9)
2 comments:
Yes, thank you,
Great message. Thanks for this.
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