“Look at the political situation. We stand up in America and we say, “one Nation under God.” We’re not one nation. We are not together. We have Democrats against Republicans, blacks and whites at each other’s throats.”
Tom Skinner in Words of Revolution
“We have spoken of trying and trusting, and the difference between the two. Believe me, it is the difference between heaven and hell. It is not something just to be talked over as a satisfying thought; it is stark reality. ‘Lord, I cannot do it, therefore I will no longer try to do it.’ This is the point most of us fall short of. ‘Lord, I cannot; therefore I will take my hands off; from now on I trust thee for that.’ We refuse to act; we depend on him to do so, and then we enter fully and joyfully in the action he initiates. It is not passivity; it is a most active life, trusting the Lord like that; drawing life from him, taking him to be our very life, letting him live his life in us as we go forth in his Name.”
from The Normal Christian Life by Watchman Nee pp. 186-187.
I have read enough of Watchman Nee to know that he and I have some significant theological and doctrinal differences. However, the passage above helps me to think more deeply about God’s sovereignty along with human free agency. It is significant that Nee points out that the Christian life is active rather than passive. But that activity is not my efforts to produce. Rather it is walking into what Jesus is doing in the world and in my own life. The Lord is the initiator. He initiates the activity and the Christian walks into it fully trusting in Jesus to provide all that is needed for that activity. I think this is something that people like Hudson Taylor and David Livingston understood very well and deeply.
Lord help me and all my brothers and sisters in Christ to more deeply understand what it means to walk with you. Amen.