“As each one has received a gift,
minister it to one another, as
good stewards of the manifold
grace of God.”
1 Peter 4:10
(NKJV)
I love the older hymns
and the stories behind them. Recently, at church we sang a hymn that I
was not familiar with called Jesus,
I am Resting, Resting. I thought I’d pass on to you what I
learned about the hymn because it illustrates how God entwines our lives to
bring us comfort and encouragement.
Jean Piggott composed
this hymn in 1876 and a few years later, her brother Thomas Piggott went to
China as a missionary. In a letter while there, Thomas wrote: “I am, I
can truly say, more grateful every day for the opportunity of serving Christ,
and I believe this to be the only true and sober view of life’s realities. The
work pressed home now, will make all the difference a few years hence.” In
1901, Thomas was executed at the age of 53, along with a number of other
Christian missionaries, in the Boxer Rebellion. J. Hudson Taylor was greatly
saddened at the loss of his friend and fellow missionaries and apparently,
“Jesus, I am Resting, Resting” was a great comfort to him during this time.
It’s wonderful how God
used the writing of this song by one Christian to minister to missionaries and
other Christians over the years. Because Jean Piggott was faithful to use
her God-given talent of composing, others were comforted and encouraged in
difficult circumstances, and God was glorified. We have each been given
different gifts and God expects us to use them to minister to
others. Even if what we do seems small and unimportant, the important
thing is to stay faithful and we may later find out that it had an impact on
someone else.
No comments:
Post a Comment