I’m rereading Elisabeth Elliot’s book The Path of Loneliness (Yes, it is a super depressing title). It amazes me how chapter after chapter she is able to paint this awesome picture of Jesus and just how worth it He is to trust and obey.
Today I was reading about sacrifice and had to stop to reflect on the following paragraph:
Can we give up all for the love of God? When the surrender of ourselves seems too much to ask, it is first of all because our thoughts about God Himself are paltry. We have not really seen Him, we have hardly tested Him at all and learned how good He is. In our blindness we approach Him with suspicious reserve. We ask how much of our fun He intends to spoil, how much He will demand from us, how high is the price we must pay before He is placated. If we had the least notion of His loving-kindness and tender mercy, His fatherly care for His poor children, His generosity, His beautiful plans for us; if we knew how patiently He waits for our turning to Him, how gently He means to lead us to green pastures and still waters, how carefully He is preparing a place for us, how ceaselessly He is ordering and ordaining and engineering His Master Plan for our good–if we had any inkling of all this, could we be reluctant to let go of our smashed dandelions or whatever we clutch so fiercely in our sweaty little hands? (123)
How do I view God and the gospel? Do I really count everything as a loss compared to the surpassing worth of knowing Jesus? Do I see knowing and serving Jesus as a joy or a burden? Do I see Jesus as worth it to trust and obey? Am I willing to unclench my hands that hold such small dreams so that I can have Jesus?
