Page 34 - The Gate and the Way

I recently finished reading the wonderful biography of Amy Carmichael written by
Elisabeth Elliot. The title of the book is A Chance to Die. Ms. Carmichael left a comfortable
life in England in the late 1800s to live among the native people of India as a missionary.
She understood something about the ways of God, and the call of the body of Christ to share
in the sufferings of Christ. The following poem that she penned gives eloquent testimony
to her understanding and her experience.

Hast Thou No Scar
Amy Carmichael

Hast thou no scar?
No hidden scar on foot, or side, or hand?
I hear thee sung as mighty in the land;
I hear them hail thy bright, ascendant star.
Hast thou no scar?

Hast thou no wound?
Yet I was wounded by the archers; spent,
Leaned Me against a tree to die; and rent
By ravening beasts that compassed Me, I swooned.
Hast thou no wound?

No wound? No scar?
Yet, as the Master shall the servant be,
And pierced are the feet that follow Me.
But thine are whole; can he have followed far
Who hast no wound or scar?

What a question to ponder in this hour. “Can he have followed far who hast no wound
or scar?” I have at times considered that I would not want to stand before Yahshua on the
day when I must give an account of my life and not have any testimony of being a partaker
of His sufferings. I would be ashamed to stand before the One who suffered so much for me,
and to not have suffered anything for Him.
Consider the attitude of Peter, and the other apostles toward suffering.

Acts 5:40-41
After calling the apostles in, they flogged them and ordered them to speak no more
in the name of Yahshua, and then released them. So they went on their way from the
presence of the Council, rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer
shame for His name.

Christ tells the saints that this attitude is right and proper.

Matthew 5:11-12
“Blessed are you when men cast insults at you, and persecute you, and say all kinds
of evil against you falsely, on account of Me. Rejoice, and be glad, for your reward
in heaven is great, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”