Hudson Taylor, in speaking
of his personal struggle with depression during a major trial, and of his need
for stronger... overcoming faith: “But how to get faith strengthened? Not by
striving after faith, but by resting on the Faithful One. If we believe not, He
abideth faithful. I looked to Jesus and saw (and when I saw, oh, how joy
flowed!) that he had said: I will never leave you. Ah! There is rest, I
thought. I have strived in vain to rest in Him. I’ll strive no more. For has he
not promised to abide with me? I saw not only that Jesus would never leave me,
but that I was a member of His body, of his flesh, and of His bones. The vine,
I now see, is not the root merely, but all – root, stem, branches, twigs,
leaves, flowers, fruit; and Jesus is not only that: He is the soil and
sunshine, air and showers, and ten thousand times more than I have ever
dreamed, wished for, or needed. The Spirit of God revealed this truth of my
oneness with Jesus as I had never known it before, that I may know and enjoy
the riches freely given me in Christ. I am no longer anxious about anything...
for He, I know, is able to carry out His will and His will is mine. It makes no
matter where He places me or how. This is rather for Him to consider than for
me. He must give me grace; and in the most difficult situations, His grace is
sufficient. So, if God places me in great perplexity, must He not give me guidance;
in positions of great difficulty... much grace; in circumstances of great
pressure and trial... much strength. His resources are mine, For He is mine.
All this springs from my oneness with Christ. I am dead and buried with Christ –
aye, and risen too, and ascended; and now Christ lives in me, and the life I
now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and
gave Himself for me.”
The crucified life is a Person
within a person
living
out His life in that person
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