Recently I read Duncan Hamilton’s excellent biography, For the Glory: The Untold and Inspiring Story of Eric Liddell, Hero of Chariots of Fire. For all of you who only saw the movie, this is a wonderful account of what happened in Eric’s life before and after the 1924 Paris Olympics. I was challenged and inspired by his persistent faith in the Lord Jesus even under the pressure of a Japanese prison camp in China.
Eric Liddell had a several published works. Since reading Hamilton’s biography I have read through Liddell’s Disciplines of the Christian Life. Liddell used this book as a manual for growth and refreshment forfaith. He encouraged the men and women he was discipling to read it slowly, look up the Scripture, and mediate on these thoughts over the course of year. It was also his habit to do so as he meet the Lord daily for an hour each morning before his tasks and adventures.
For Liddell, discipleship is about knowing God and seeing Jesus produce obedience, righteousness, and humility in our lives. I have found these questions for a disciple useful in my own life:
A disciple is one who knows God personally, and who learns from Jesus Christ, who most perfectly revealed God. One word stands out from all others as the key to knowing God, to having his peace and assurance in your heart; it is obedience. Obedience to God’s will is the secret of spiritual knowledge and insight. It is not willingness to know, but willingness to do (obey) God’s will that brings enlightenment and certainty regarding spiritual truth. ‘If any man will do [obey] his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself’ (John 7.17). Here are some questions to ask yourself. If I know something to be true, am I prepared to follow it even though it is contrary to what I want, to what I have previously said or held to be true? Will I follow it even if it means loss of face, owning that I was wrong? Will I follow if it means being laughed at by friend or foe, if it means personal financial loss or some kind of hardship? Following truth leads to God, for truth is of God.
Obedience is the secret of being conscious that God guides you personally, If in the quiet of your heart you feel something should be done, stop and consider whether it is in line with the character and teaching of Jesus. If so, obey that impulse to do it, and in doing so you will find it was God guiding you.
Disciplines of the Christian Life, Eric Liddell.