Tag Archives: Hudson Taylor

Eyes to See

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One reason I quit wearing contact lenses was that I was always losing them.

But in one of those days when my absent-mindedness was still propelling me toward the inevitable decision, I stood at the window. One eye had a contact lens. The other was legally blind.

I looked out with first one eye closed, and then the other. The near-sighted eye could clearly see the screen, the dust, the cobwebs. Obviously I needed to clean. Beyond the screen was only a hazy blur of green, too indistinct to give more than a passing glance.

Then I looked through the corrected eye and found that the screen faded almost completely from view. I knew it was there, but what I saw, what my eye was able to focus on, was the beauty of the vista beyond the screen: flower and trees, even individual blades of grass. I marvelled as if I had never looked outside before.

I played the game for a minute. Bad eye, screen. Good eye, beauty. Thank God for corrective lenses, to look beyond the screen.

What was David thinking when he looked at Goliath and said, “I’m going to feed you to the buzzards”? What did he see beyond the giant?

How was it that Hudson Taylor could come to the end of his life, after losing a wife and child in China, after multiple hardships and broken health, and in the spirit of Hebrews 10:34 say, “I never made a sacrifice”? What could he see beyond those hardships? What had happened to his spiritual eyes?

How could Moses turn his back on the riches and pleasures of Egypt? How could he, as Hebrews 11 says, turn his gaze away and fix his attention on something no one else could perceive with physical eyes?  What could he see beyond those physical attractions?

What did Paul mean when he told the Ephesians in chapter 1 that he wanted the eyes of their perception to be filled with light? Can spiritual eyes, even the eyes of Christians, be legally blind? What are those things he talks about, those things we’re supposed to see? Are they worth begging God for corrective lenses?

Lord, fix our vision to fix our gaze—beyond the Cares of this World and the Deceitfulness of Riches. Fill our eyes with light to see beyond the Giants.

Spirit of Christ, give us eyes to see your Beauty. Your Power.

Beyond the Screen.

So where’s the fruit? Thoughts on John 15 and the sower and seed

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“I want more fruit, Lord. I want much fruit.” My prayer ran more or less along the lines of that vague reference to John 15. It was summer, and my parents’ blueberry bushes groaned with fruit. I was jealous. In the Love of Christ, my roots ran as deep as those. Of the Water of Life I drank long and often. Yes, I have fruit, but I’m hungry for more. Where is it?

As is commonly the case with these Hard Questions, I prayed and pondered for a while before receiving an answer. Then somewhere I heard a brief reference to the sower and the seed, my favorite of Christ’s parables.

Some seed fell on hard ground, where it couldn’t take root at all. That’s not me. Some fell on good ground, where it brought forth much fruit. That’s the one I want to be.

The seed is the Word of God. The beautiful Word that I meditate on. The Word that gives me joy.

Some fell among rocks, which kept the roots from going deep. No, I knew my roots went deep.

But there was one other. The one in the thorny ground. One afternoon while I was resting and meditating on the vast ocean of my Savior’s goodness, it came to my mind. Honestly, I had never fully distinguished the rocky soil from the thorny soil, because well, they were just both bad. But now, for the first time, I thought about how the rocks affected the plant at the root. But the thorns, what did they do? They affected the plant at the neck. The thorns choked the Word of God that it would . . . become unfruitful.

As soon as those Words came to me, my eyes flew open. The Lord had shown me something hugely important.

I knew the parable well enough to know the reasons. The cares of this world . . . and the deceitfulness of riches . . . and wasn’t there another one? My fingers ran to read it for myself in Matthew 13. No other words there. . . . over to the parallel account in Mark 4. The lusts of other things. These are what choke the Word of God and cause it to become unfruitful.

My immediate heart reaction to these accusations was self-justification. “I don’t think I’m guilty of this one or that one, Lord.” But the Spirit gently communed with my spirit to lovingly rebuke me. “Yes, I want to allow You to show me the thorns, wherever they may be.” Cares of this world . . . even the seemingly good and important things that pull my eyes away from Christ . . . deceitfulness of riches . . . not just money, but the stuff I feel like I need . . . lusts of other things . . . other things besides material things, which covers just about any possibility of any sin in the book.

And so the Lord worked, bringing me to repentance in a variety of ways, bringing me His sweet forgiveness and restoration and even the Lifting Above that He refers to in both the Old and New Testaments.

One evening I rested in His arms before going to sleep, and the riches, the lusts, the cares swirled around me. Especially the cares. But I somehow felt lifted above, and filled with joy in the love of my Savior.

An incident in Hudson Taylor’s life came to mind, when missionaries with his China Inland Mission were having many troubles . . . and there were problems with the Chinese government . . . and he held a huge stack of letters he needed to answer . . . when the cares of this world pulled at him like hundreds of Lilliputians.

And Hudson Taylor laid his hand on the stack of letters and leaned back and closed his eyes and began . . . singing. His favorite hymn.

Jesus I am resting, resting in the joy of what Thou art. I am finding out the secret of Thy loving heart.

John 15. What did Jesus say was the secret of Much Fruit? If you abide in Me and I abide in you. That’s when you’ll bring forth much fruit. That’s when your fruit will last. That’s when you’ll see amazing answers to prayer. That’s when your joy will be full.

What a mysterious and ineffably beautiful thing it is to abide in Him. Jesus, continue to teach me this glorious truth.


Passing the torch over three hundred years

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Our friends, Odell and Beth Summer, are preparing for a particular mission field in Thailand. Who laid the groundwork for that mission field?

In 1695, August Francke, a direct product of the Reformation, founded an orphanage in Prussia and supported over a hundred orphans on faith alone.

Years after Francke’s death, a young man at the university where he had taught picked up his autobiography and was deeply and profoundly influenced. He went on to found orphanages in England that became known all over the world. That man’s name was George Mueller.

While Mueller’s orphanages were thriving, housing over a thousand orphans on faith alone, a young man visited them and in turn was deeply and profoundly influenced. He decided to found a mission board that would never ask for funds but would depend on God alone for all their needs. That man’s name was Hudson Taylor.

A young man listened to Hudson Taylor speak and decided to leave his fortune and his promising future to join Taylor’s China Inland Mission take the gospel to China where it had never been heard. That man’s name was C. T. Studd.

Studd spoke at a conference and deeply and profoundly influenced a young man who left all to take the gospel to China, working among the Lisu people of the western mountains. This man’s name was James Fraser.

James Fraser returned to the States briefly and spoke at a conference where a young woman was deeply and profoundly influenced. She left all to go to China and bring the gospel the Lisu people, first in China and then, after the Communist takeover, in Thailand. During this time she wrote a number of gripping and inspiring books about God’s work in her life and in the lives of the people. This woman’s name was Isobel Kuhn.

Isobel Kuhn and her husband John had a daughter named Kathy, who married another man who had gone to northern Thailand to bring the gospel to the tribal people there. That man’s name was Don Rulison, and as of this writing he is almost a hundred years old and is still living in Chiang Mai. Their children are still working for the Lord there as well.

After Kathy’s death a children’s home and boarding school was established in Chiang Mai and named after her, Kathy’s Home. Our friends Odell and Beth are hoping to be able to leave the U.S. next spring and become the overseers of Kathy’s Home.

Over three hundred years and across three continents, we have traced the work of God, as one generation proclaims His works to another.

Have you ever thought about how the gospel came to you? It started with Jesus, who spoke it, as a fountain of life, to the apostles. They took it as a glorious gift to many people, who carried it, one by one, like a precious treasure, to many other people, who passed it along, like a fire catching hold, to many more.

One by one, from one person to the next, like a roaring blaze, like a rushing river, the gospel traveled across the lands, around the world, taking root like a tree in the heart of one person after another. Then finally, like wind blowing from the east to the west, it came to someone who told it to someone who told it to someone, who told it to you.

—from chapter one of With Two Hands: Stories of God at Work in Ethiopia