Onward

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Heb 12:1” Ex 3: 13-14

I recently had the privilege of participating in a ministry trip to Kenya with Medical Education International, a mission arm of CMDA. Dr. James Smith, last year’s recipient of CMDA’s Servant of Christ award, was our team leader. At 75 he has more physical and mental energy than I could drum up when I was forty. Three to four times a year, he leads teams of Christian doctors throughout the world, funding his travel with employment at the Portland VA 1-2 days a month. He just won’t quit.

Alfred Buxton once wrote of his fellow missionary, C.T. Studd, “From him I learned that God’s idea of a saint is a person not primarily concerned with his own sanctification; God’s saint is 50% a soldier.”

Do we really get this about our lives? As a Christian doctor do I really understand that “God’s saint is 50% a soldier”---that God has kept me in this world primarily to fight for his Kingdom; or, more accurately, to let him fight through me? If I really believe this is true, how well do my actions measure up to my belief?

As soldiers, God has varied assignments for us at different times in our lives, but we never are given the opportunity to resign from his command or forsake his battle. Prior to C.T. Studd’s death in the Congo, Buxton sent to him these simple lines:

“Let the victors when they come,
When the forts of folly fall,
Find thy body near the wall.”
(from CT Studd: Cricketer & Pioneer by Norman Grubb)

These lines proved true for CT Studd. I suspect they will prove true for Dr. James Smith and countless others I have known. How about me? Will I quit the battle too soon or will I take the steps to make these words true for my life?

Dear God,
Let me join in your battle, not mine; let me never give up your fight. Let it be you, not my dreams, who call me forward.
Amen