The Crisis Reveals What We Are

You see, the point of weakness is not a sudden thing. It is not in the crisis of life that we are made.

The crisis just reveal what we are, what has been slowly built up over a very long period, and when the stormy wind comes it is too late to do anything.

It is no good trying to build up the house suddenly when the stormy wind comes and knocks it down. 

It was too late to separate the tares and the wheat when they had grown to a certain height. 

The point is that we must watch the beginnings, and be very careful about the dangers of small things.

When the seed is small it is very difficult to identify one kind from another, and because things are small there is a tendency for us to disregard their importance.

I suppose those men who were building the wall in Jerusalem said: 'Well, there is only a little bit of cement, but that does not matter. No one will see.' 

When we see small things we must recognize that they have an essential nature, and they have a potential. We must not be deceived by them.

Do you realize that Mao Tse Tung was once a little baby on his mother's shoulder, being cuddled by everyone who saw him? 

We see our pretty little baby boys and girls and we think they are something quite wonderful, failing to take account of the potential that there is in a human life.

Children will play with a cuddly little bear, but what is the nature of that bear when it is fully grown?

You see, there is a certain delusion about things when they are very small. 

We shall see the spiritual meaning of this as we go along, but it is vital for us to recognize the beginnings, the foundations. 

Although the seeds may look very much alike, they differ fundamentally in their nature, and, of course, the outworking will be a vital difference in their fruit.

~W. E Thompson~