An interesting atricle

I LOVE WORLD Magazine. It's fun to read. It's Christian in perspective. Whenever my weekly copy comes I devour it completely in one sitting.

There is one columnist I really enjoy. Her name is Andree' Seu. She is author of a few books I've been meaning to purchase for just about forever now (I just have too many purchased already that are still waiting to be cracked open.) anyway, I was reading this article about Pulitzer Prize winning author Pearl Buck and her life. Buck was the daughter of missionaries who served in China.

The interesting things is that Pearl Buck ended up rejecting the Gospel later in life yet still retained a personal value for service to humanity. She believed in mission endeavors"carried on with a Christian 'spirit'.......She herself was tired of doctrinal preaching."

Seu draws a comparison from Buck with others in a movement away from Christ Himself while still seeming to continue to go about kingdom business. Let me quote a bit from Seu's article

In 'Easter 1933,' Buck stirred the boiling pot by dismissing Christian dogma, likening Christ to Buddah, as did her father in some ways, and proclaiming her 'creedless faith' in Christianity as 'the essence of men's highest dreams." Buck became a tireless worker for civil and human rights.

The article then goes on to point out that Buck made an interesting personal movement away from Christ but not away from works associated with His character, i.e. civil rights, etc. Not only did Buck herself make this transition but many of our nations leading colleges.

It's not hard to look around these days and find many activists who are passionate about relieving the causes of human suffering. Many are concerned with the 'greater good' of society, even the world as a whole. But, why?

One more excerpt which has absolutely consumed my thoughts lately:

Oswald chambers wrote, "Today we have substituted creedal belief for personal belief, and that is why so many are devoted to causes and so few devoted to Jesus Christ. People do not want to be devoted to Jesus, but only to the cause He started. Jesus Christ is a source of deep offence to the educated mentality of today that does not want Him in any other way than as comrade. The Lord's first obedience was to the will of His Father, not to the needs of men. The saving of men was natural to the outcome of His obedience to His Father. If I am devoted to the cause of humanity only, I will soon be exhausted,....... but if I love Jesus personally and passionately, I can serve humanity though men treat me as a door-mat. The secret of a disciple's life is devotion to Jesus Christ."



Oh Lord, that you would truly be my singular devotion! That you would have pride of first place in my heart and my ambitions. Lord, let any passions I have, or actions I make, be rooted in a desire to see Your will accomplished and Your purposes fulfilled. I repent of self seeking motives and my flesh's desire to be virtuous on it's own accord. Lord, instead, make my life's work glorify You alone. Be lifted up and praised! Come steal my heart away and capture it for Your own.