The ultimate

"But we pray to God that you may not do wrong---not that we may appear to have met the test, but that you may do what is right, though we may seem to have failed" (2 Corinthians 13:7).

I had the opportunity to meet John Piper last week. I am not telling tales out of school (see "Human Race" column from the April 24 issue of WORLD) in relating to you that the renowned pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis is taking an eight-month sabbatical---and that it has something to do with being renowned.

He told a group of us over pizza that he is praying for his flock and will be pleased if it turns out for them as it did for Robert Murray McCheyne.

McCheyne (1813-1843) was a Scottish preacher of great spiritual vision but frail health who also took a leave of absence from his congregation. He had taken the pastorate of St. Peter's Church in Dundee, but godly ardor took a toll on his body and in 1838 he was forced to lay aside regular duties. It so happened that the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland was at this time dispatching a group to Palestine on a "Mission of Inquiry to the Jews," and McCheyne tagged along.

The Scottish pastor returned from Palestine to find that the revival he had long prayed for in Dundee had occurred while he was away. He discovered 39 prayer meetings, prayer cells in the factories, and standing room only in the church.

This is the kind of outcome that may not be immediately exciting to any pastor but Jesus. It's true that John the Baptist did get on board with humility, famously remarking upon being informed that his fame was being eclipsed by Jesus': "He must increase and I must decrease." But I can imagine that revival breaking out in one's pastoral absence could be challenging news to ministers who are mere mortals. They might worry that people of simple logic skills would privately think to themselves: "post hoc ergo propter hoc" ("after, therefore because of").

Nevertheless, the truth is that "one sows and another reaps" (John 4:37), and "neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but God who gives the growth" (1 Corinthians 3:7). And whenever we understand truth, it sets us free. We become so free that we welcome good things that happen without us, and good things that happen to other people and not us. We become so free that we can even be happy when the advancement in godliness of other brothers and sisters somehow makes us appear to be failures.

I, for one, can think of no higher test of godliness.

To hear commentaries by Andrée Seu, click here.