For the summer season we are suggesting some weighty reading. Those of you into apologetics, philosophy, and culture will love our GPI Gravel Road book of the summer. It is actually three books published in a trilogy by the late Dr. Francis Schaffer. The books included are, The God Who is There, Escape From Reason, and He Is There and He Is Not Silent. Schaeffer considered these three books to be essential to everything he wrote (twenty-three books in all). It has been said that few Christians have had a greater impact during the last half of the twentieth century than Dr. Francis A. Schaeffer. He was a man ahead of his time with a remarkable breadth of cultural interest, penetrating insight into modern life, and a clear sense of spiritual reality. Schaffer was also a man who cared deeply about people and their search for truth and reality in their lives.
Because we go from weekly to monthly in our publication of the Gravel Road for the summer months we can have two different senior staff win a copy of The Schaeffer Trilogy this month. One guess per person per road per day. Remember this is a friendly competition so no gambling or wagering. Participants must be over 18 years of age and live in a state where blog competitions are allowed by state law. Any family members or relatives of Bert Robinson, staff submitting gravel road pictures, or staff that actually live on a gravel road are prohibited from competition and their entries deemed null and void. That said, have fun:
Contest A: Be the first person to name the country this gravel road is in. Hint: it is overseas.
Contest B: Be the first person to name the city this gravel road is 10 minutes from. Hint: Some of you will be going to this city this summer.
And now we pick up where we left off last week with HR director Ryan Williams sharing from his life and lessons learned from Andrew Murray's Abiding Life:
“The idea they (many Christians) have of grace is this – that their conversion and pardon are God’s work, but that now, in gratitude to God, it is their work to live as Christians, and follow Jesus. There is always the thought of a work that has to be done, and even though they pray for help, still the work is theirs. They fail continually and become hopeless; and the despondency only increases the helplessness. No, wandering one; as it was Jesus who drew you when He spoke ‘Come,’ so it is Jesus who keeps you when He says ‘Abide.’ The grace to come and the grace to abide are alike from Him alone” (p. 13).
As I have read through this book, it has been somewhat of an in-depth examination of the Spirit-filled life for me. The grace to come has always made sense to me; the grace to abide at times is difficult for me to embrace. There has been encouragement in the following areas:· Sanctification – “Do not let your attention be diverted by the question as to whether it would be possible to be kept your whole life, or for so many years, without sinning. Faith has ever only to deal with the present moment. Ask this: Can Jesus at the present moment, as I abide in Him, keep me for those actual transgressions which have been the stain and weariness of my daily life? You cannot but say: Surely He can” (p. 137)
· Fruitfulness – “The God who chose Christ to be the Vine fitted Him thoroughly for the work He had as vine to perform. The God who has chosen me and planted me in Christ, has thereby engaged to secure, if I will but let Him, by yielding myself to Him, that I in every way be worthy of Jesus Christ” (p. 30).
· Love for Others – As we study “(Christ’s) forgiveness and forebearance towards his friends, with the seven times seven as its only measure – as it looks to His unwearied patience and His infinite humility – as it sees the meekness and lowliness with which He seeks to win for Himself a place as their servant, wholly devoted to their interests – it accepts with gladness His command, ‘Ye should do as I have done’” (p. 131).
As I’ve read through the book, there is an increasing sense that this unbroken fellowship is actually possible. Practically, here’s a little of how I envision this. There is an apparatus at our health club called the Modular Assist Dip/Chin. It is one of the largest pieces of equipment and even has a special section carved out in the roof. Essentially, this machine is pull-ups on steroids. There are some handles you grip to do pull-ups and depending on how you adjust the weight stack, it becomes so easy that it begins to feel like doing pull-ups in outer space.
I always struggled mightily in the Presidential Fitness tests to complete two or three pull-ups. But on the Modular Assist Dip/Chin, the more I rely on the weight stack the “stronger” I get. I think that’s somewhat how I’ve come to view abiding in Christ. Left to my own resources I pathetically struggle to lift my chin above the bar 2 or 3 times. As I abide in Christ and experience his ongoing grace, the same grace that brought my initial salvation and provides for my ongoing salvation, I’m able to live far beyond my natural abilities. May our hopelessness and despondency as we attempt to live the independent Christian life be replaced by the hope and joy of a life attached to the power that the Vine provides.
-Ryan
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