Elisabeth Elliot is a woman I greatly respect. She wrote "Passion and Purity: Learning to Bring Your Love Life Under Christ's Control" among many other books. She was married to Jim Elliot, her college sweetheart, who was taken from her just three years later in Ecuador.
Last year I picked up a copy of "Passion and Purity" under the advice of another lady I respect, Allison. She told me that it really aided in her pursuit of a pure relationship with her now-fiancee, Jake (and since they are now engaged, I have to believe that this is the truth). So I spent the sixteen dollars and tax on this book and subsequently spent the next few days hating Elisabeth Elliot.
She made too much sense.
She spoke into places of my heart that weren't prepared to be spoken to.
I got angry.
I threw the book against the wall.
I calmed down, kept reading, and now, a year later, have come to realize what a treasure this book really is.
The biggest thing that I have learned from "Passion and Purity" is that the gift of love that God graces us with is not for us. It is for God. If the relationships that I have are not God-honoring then who are they for? And furthermore, if I seek to have a God-honoring relationship I must realize that this may not be permanent. God gives and takes away, and God may just take away the people that I have in my life. And I have to be willing to submit that to Him too.
Falling in love with God has been the most exhilarating experience of my life. I have never been so challenged, so intruded upon, so questioned, and so deeply loved by anyone else. I'm finding peace in my life that I did not know that I needed. I want people to continue to ask me the hard questions and really challenge me to grow more. After all, when you love somebody you want to know everything about them, don't you?
God-centered, God-seeking, authentic relationships require a level of openness and submission that I am not always comfortable with. Allowing trusted Christians into my life to openly question and challenge me about the blackest parts of my life (that I really would not like to be known at times) is hard. Americans like their privacy. Heck, people like their privacy. But I know that in order to grow, I have to be able to submit EVERYTHING to God - and if I don't... well then where is there room for growth?
Patience springs from this submission. When I submit to God the things that I would truly like to have right away (i.e. a job, school, a super sweet man, a boat, blah blah blah) I come to realize that these desires I have will either be fulfilled or not - but rushing them isn't going to make it any better. In fact, rushing anything can ruin the pleasure in the time I have to enjoy the road on the way to these things. By always looking to the future, I potentially miss the incredible present. And the present- well it's a present! Savoring the moment I am in now, enjoying what gifts I have been blessed with today, helps me have patience in waiting for what might come - and prevents the David-Bathsheba problem: desiring what I don't have even though I am immensely blessed right now.
When I think of submitting things in my life to Christ I think about the way that a basket is weaved. Each strip of the basket alone is weak - it could not, by itself, hold anything. But when interlaced with other strips of the basket, the structure becomes stronger and eventually can hold a great deal of material. When I submit my everyday affairs to Christ, I am allowing Him to weave Himself into my being and becoming stronger. However... if I decide not to submit an area of my life to Christ I am leaving that part of the basket unwoven and it will be basically useless. Things would fall out of it and eventually the weight of the materials being held or carried would cause the basket's structure to begin to fray and break. Without full submission, there is never full use. I want to be used completely for Christ.
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