I wonder… who’s on your list of great saints of old?
Okay, let me guess, maybe you choose Martin Luther or St. Augustine… how about Susanna Wesley or some of you might choose Jonathan Edwards. Hi, I’m Joni Eareckson Tada and for me Corrie ten Boom is on my list of great saints from years past. Although we can look to wonderful Christians of the past for inspiration, who are the great believers of today? For that matter, what makes them great?
I like A. W. Tozer’s criteria of a great Christian. Make note of this: he says, “The great in the kingdom have [always] been those who... love God more than others did.” Tozer goes on to say, “The one vital quality which these [great saints] have in common is spiritual receptivity. Something in them is open to heaven, something which urges them Godward. They have a spiritual awareness and they go on to cultivate it until it becomes the biggest thing in their lives.”
According to Tozer, you don’t have to be well known to be great; you don’t have to be a famous evangelist, the mother of 16 Godly children, a Bible teacher, or someone who has faced Nazi gas ovens to be great. (Although, if you do remain open to heaven and cultivate that “being spiritually receptive” thing, then God is going to place you in some powerful spheres of influence).
Friend, if your ambition is to have no ambition at all except to be pleasing to the Lord, then you are great in his kingdom. The average person senses God’s nudging but does nothing about it. The average believer finds himself in a room full of people he doesn’t know and just decides to stay to himself. The Christian whose faith is small doesn’t take time to look for God’s hand in a disappointing circumstance. But not you, if you’re spiritually receptive or have your mind set on things above, you are the one who is responsive in the situations God puts you in – and you develop the lifelong habit of always trying to see things from God’s point of view. You are the one who, if you are great in the faith… takes an ordinary day and tries to find ways to be pleasing to God. When you read Psalm 27, you are the one whose heart says to the Lord, “Your face I will seek.”
You know, this is such a skeptical, cynical world. And in our spiritually dry society, there just isn’t room anymore for mediocre Christianity. I mean ordinary, average “living for Christ” is gone by the wayside, because in this new era, the Lord is looking for people who will love him more than in the average way. Right now, he’s looking for people whose love is more than mediocre. And you can do that. You can be that. You have every resource to be great in the faith.
And if you need an example, stop by joniandfriendsradio.org today because you really must see this precious video of my quadriplegic friend, Renee Bondi – she’s a woman who is oh, so open to God; you just have to see it and hear it for yourself. She is so spiritually receptive, you can see it on her face; Renee so makes it her aim to be pleasing to the Lord. So, don’t forget, I’ve got Renee’s video posted today – it’s the last day – at joniandfriendsradio.org. And, finally, friend... when it comes to being great in the faith, is the Spirit talking to you? Is he nudging you? If you sense he is leading you to a deeper level of trust and obedience, then do something about it. If you feel the inward longing, take action. Be obedient to the heavenly vision. For then you will be great in his kingdom.
Used by permission of
JONI AND FRIENDS
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Agoura Hills, CA 91376
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