Friday, Aug. 31, 2007 - 11:44 a.m.

My faithful sister

The Rupture of Self

Author: Elisabeth Elliot

Sometimes our prayers are for deliverance from conditions which are morally indispensable--that is, conditions which are absolutely necessary to our redemption. God does not grant us those requests. He will not because He loves us with a pure and implacable purpose: that Christ be formed in us. If Christ is to live in my heart, if his life is to be lived in me, I will not be able to contain Him. The self, small and hard and resisting as a nut, will have to be ruptured. My own purposes and desires and hopes will have to at times be exploded. The rupture of the self is death, but out of death comes life. The acorn must rupture if an oak tree is to grow.

It will help us to remember, when we do not receive the answer we hoped for, that it is morally necessary, morally indispensable, that some of our prayers be denied, "that the life of Jesus may be plainly seen in these bodies of ours" (2 Cor 4:11 JBP). Then think of this: the agonized prayer of Jesus in the garden went unanswered, too. Why? In order that life--our life--might spring forth from death--his death.

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Thank you, Elizabeth, and thank You, Father for keeping her faithful to Your calling. I need to remember that You always love me and are planning for my best, even when my heart is breaking, or I am discouraged by events. The same if true for those I love. You do not with-hold the things needed to work out Your Son's life in us. We are so small, so hard that a lot of breaking is needed.

EE's devotional

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