I'm reminded of a poem I memorized long ago. "You have no enemies, you say? Alas, my friend, the boast is poor. He who has mingled in the fray of duty that the brave endure, must have made foes. If you have none, small is the work that you have done." It gets better as you read the powerful lines.
The Lewis and Clark Corps of Discovery left Fort Clatsop, March 23, 1806, but a shadow of itself when leaving Fort Mandan a year before. Instead of canoes filled to the gunwales with trade goods, only items for survival remained: weapons, powder, scientific instruments, dried fish and roots, 95 percent of their trade goods spent. Undaunted Courage, p. 353 Yet, the very paucity of supply proved the success of their expedition to that point. They had braved incredible dangers, suffered physical and mental stresses and persevered until reaching the Pacific Ocean. All of this applies to the cost of discipleship: the opposition believers encounter by holding firmly to God's Word; the wounds suffered by identifying with God's solution, not by identifying with people with the problem. The latter invariably leads to compromising God's Word. The former to repentance needed by sinners. Remember, Christians: the only clean jersey in a football game is worn by a bench-sitter. Those engaged get dirty. But they have the assurance the bench-sitters don't: they entered the contest and engaged the opposition. One more positive point existed for the Expedition. They had wisely cached supplies between Great Falls and the Ocean on their way West. Those caches would replenish their return East. Christians have as their spiritual cache the ever-present, ever-empowering Holy Spirit. And we don't have to wait to find him. He stands READY at any time to replenish any effort expended in Christian service. And those who TRY, LOVE and CARE enough to get involved with Jesus in his ministry to lost, needy mortals can appreciate the SPIRIT'S refreshment whooshing through our human spirit at warp speed, FILLING...OVERFLOWING the vessel.
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