PHILEMON 4-7 – I thank my God always when I remember you in my prayers, because I hear of your love and of the faith that you have toward the Lord Jesus and for all the saints, and I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective for the full knowledge of every good thing that is in us for the sake of Christ. For I have derived much joy and comfort from your love, my brother, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you.”

THEME OF THE DAY:  A SPIRITUAL CRISIS.  Today’s theme is not a bad thing. In fact, it might be one of the most important works of God in our lives.  It was so for one of the greatest Christians in our lifetime – Francis Schaeffer.  Here is the true account of his spiritual crisis as written in his book True Spirituality.

In the winter months of late 1950 and early 1951, Schaeffer went through a profound spiritual crisis that was, in God’s providence, to shape his whole future life and ministry.  As he wrote in the preface to the first edition of True Spirituality, “I realized that in honesty I had to go back and rethink my whole position.  I had to go all the way back to my agnosticism.”

What brought on his spiritual crisis?  Going back many years to his time in college, and later in seminary, Francis and his wife, Edith were bothered by the lack of love shown between Christians, especially when there was any disagreement. At that time Francis and Edith wrestled with this question:  “How could people stand for God’s holiness and the purity of doctrine in the church, and in one’s personal life, and yet not have it turn out to be harsh and ugly?”

By 1951 Schaeffer felt he had seen so much that was harsh and ugly that he was not sure he could in honesty be a Christian any longer.  He saw so much that was negative, so much that defined Christian orthodoxy primarily in terms of what it was “against.”  He saw so much infighting within the circles of which he was a part, in his own denomination and across large segments of the evangelical community.  He saw men struggling for power and using unscrupulous methods to gain or to maintain control and positions of influence. He wondered what they were “for”, and what affirmations there were to set alongside the negations.  Where was the passion for evangelism that fills the pages of the New Testament?  Where was the devotional literature expressing love for the Lord?  Where were the hymns that would demonstrate that the imagination and the heart were being touched by God’s truth along with the mind?  Where was love for fellow believers and for one’s unbelieving neighbors that would show to the world that the Father sent the Son for our salvation?  Where was the spiritual reality that fills the pages of the book of Acts and of the New Testament Epistles?

He was not only dissatisfied with the circles of which they were a part.  He said “Edith, I feel really torn to pieces by the lack of reality, the lack of seeing the results the Bible talks about, which should be seen in the Lord’s people.  I’m not talking only about people I’m working with, but I’m not satisfied with myself.  It seems that the only honest thing to do is to rethink, reexamine the whole matter of Christianity.  Is it true?  I need to go back to my agnosticism and start at the beginning.”

Schaeffer came out of the crisis with a renewed spirit and conviction of the truth of Christ and scripture.  His spiritual crisis changed his life.  Maybe we need a spiritual crisis too.  Every time we read our Bibles and the description of what believers are to be, what they are to do, how they are to speak, what they are to invest their time, money, and selves in, and the devotion they are to give to prayer, scripture, sharing the Gospel, and serving God’s people should be met with self-examination saying, “Is it I, Lord?” And if we find ourselves falling short of Biblical Christianity, the next step should be repentance and pleas for revival of true Biblical Christianity.  

PRAYER: “Father, give me no rest until I see the reality of New Testament Christianity in my life.”

QUOTE: “The Bible is to be read, meditated upon, and lived. It is a book for living not for sitting in our heads.”