“I believe something huge happened for young John [when his brother was the first disciple martyred and Peter was miraculously released from prison instead of executed]. I think he came to the startling realization that we are each on our own before God. Every life is separate and distinct. We may think we have partnerships in life and ministry without which we cannot exist or operate. We may think that everything in the Christian experience is about body life, but it is not. Yes, we’re all parts of the body of Christ, and we function in each generation as parts of a whole; but until we each stand before God with a shocking awareness of our solitary standing, I’m not sure we have a clue about our part…
Will we loose our hold on anything and anyone else as a prerequisite to following Christ in the intensity of aloneness? If you can answer quickly, I’m not sure you grasp the seriousness…
‘I’m so far out on a limb with God now, if I even think of walking by sight instead of faith, I’m dead.’
How much of your life you’ve invested in Jesus is the issue. Have we held some back of ourselves – just in case He’s not as real, as powerful, as active as we thought? Or have we banked everything we have and everything we are on the reality that Jesus Christ is Lord of all the earth? We will never fulfill our destinies until our hope is built on nothing less…
We can lock arms with fellow servants just as the disciples did. For the parts of the whole to work as God intended them, however, each part must stand on its own before a highly personal God. When a wave of loneliness suddenly erupts, ride it…
The intensity of your solitary estate is often most obvious when you fight to reconcile the facts of life with the words of faith. Do you grapple, like John, with questions like, ‘Why did God let my brother die but perform a miracle for my best friend?’ I’m not sure John ever figured this one out. He was thankful his friend’s life was spared, but why was James’ life seemingly less significant? Why Lord? And what about me?
Solitude is not so much the place we find answers as the place we decide if we’re going on, possibly alone – without them. Many of us will. Why? Because the privilege of wrestling with such a holy and mysterious God still beats the numbness and pitiful mediocrity of life otherwise. He knows that what we crave far more than explanations is the unshakable conviction that He is utterly, supremely God.”
Whoa. I wasn’t even looking for this quote. I thought another one was on my heart in this Beloved Disciple study this morning. Nope, this is it.