I read a startling fact today. Fanny Crosby, the great hymn writer, blind from about the age of 6, had memorized, before she was eleven years old, (and before she had ever formally gone to school) almost the entire New Testament, and five books of the Old Testament! WoW!
But that is not the most fascinating fact.
The more startling fact is that she did not become a Christian until she was 30 years old!
All that Scripture memorized as her mother and grandmother read to her (her father died shortly after Fanny went blind) and yet her heart, though warmed to Christ, had not bowed to Christ until she was 30 years old.
I wonder how many sit in our evangelical churches thinking they are begotton of God, who have not truly yielded to Christ. They have "converted" to the church, or to the youth group, or to the fellowship, but not to Christ.
May God help all of us to make sure we are truly His, body and soul.
1 comment:
"fully yielded" is a pipe-dream this side of heaven. In my mind, it is foolish to think it could ever be otherwise. But neither is it something to be flippantly thrown away. When I look into my heart and see that it is not "fully yielded" I should not say, "O well, I'm only human and it could not be otherwise."
Instead, I should look at my heart and recognize that it is for such a heart, an unyielded heart with corners and darkness hiding from His light, that Christ died. "We love BECAUSE he first loved us," said the apostle. (1 John 4)
Our love is always contingent and tainted. His love is always sourced in His perfection and purity. So I look at my heart, see its corruption and rejoice that God loves me despite my corruption, died and rose to conquer my corruption and is taking me progressively and, one day, finally, to a place where I will be free of an unyielded heart. I will see as I am seen. And today, I am one day closer to that day.
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