I probably should not be saying this publicly, but I am quite poor at reading most things that come in hard copy! The main reason is that I have so many things to read so I usually restrict myself to things in easily digestable electronic format. Plus I have always thought that information that I need to know will somehow get to me. Perhaps I have swallowed the notion of "consumer sovereignity" too much that I forget that there are are many barriers to information flowing in my direction.
Unfortunately, my failure to read hard copy means that I often miss out on good stuff that is genuinely worth knowing. Which is why I am grateful to God that atleast this month, I managed to read a copy of the GBM Herald. I have only just found out that some of the articles are available in pdf here. But I would definitely recommend picking up the hard copy. It is very readable on a bus / train ride because of its A3 sizing. Most important it has some great stuff. Here are three quotes that struck me in the current edition :
Hannah Prior a missionary in Paris on the necessity on rest and the idolary of busyness:
Rest is important. God has made us with a need to rest. We are finite. He is infinite. I find it very easy to keep on doing and much harder accepting that I need to stop and rest. Since being here I have had to examine this tendency and recognise the sinful attitudes behind my actions. So often when I fail to rest from busyness, it is because I am ignoring the fact that God is in control and not me. He has made us with the need for sleep and a day to rest – reminders that it is his work and we have to trust him that there will be much fruit.
James Hammond another missionary in France (Bordeaux) reflects on the power of humility :
[The] period of humiliation does serve a purpose, however. First, it forces you not to look to people for your ultimate acceptance. We can become so sensitive to people’s opinions to the extent that we need them to accept us. Second, it forces you not to compare yourself with those around you. Whether in intelligence or ability, it’s a dead-end to try to justify ourselves by comparison. Third, it positively forces you to rejoice in the justification that comes from God. If God accepts me, justifies me, and gives me my right to be here in France, then no power or opinion can challenge that. Lastly, when we are free from the fear of people, we can be free to love and serve them.
Kester Putman on the importance of Christian literature today :
Evangelicalism sometimes seems to focus the resources of robust Christian literature exclusively on encouraging pastors and elders, rather than on aiming to strengthen the whole of the church. Would you not also want to look ahead to a day when we could have economists who knew as much much about their Christian faith as they did about economic theory? And more than that : not simply that they knew both, but that they ere able to relate them together in the way they worked out their Christian faith in the public square. That point could be extended as long as you like. My point is simply that by being exposed to thought-provoking Christian literature each believer is increasingly enabled to make connections with what is going on in the world around us, allowing the implications of the gospel to bear on the issues that are facing us as we work and live in our complex post-modern culture.
Copyright © Chola Mukanga 2015
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