[B]ut as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: … by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, the Holy Spirit, genuine love; … as dying, and behold, we live; … as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything. – 2 Corinthians 6:4-10
Perhaps nowhere is it written so explicitly as here: the true creed of the Christian. This is not for ministers and missionaries
alone. All believers ought to live so as
to deny their accusers any ground on which to stand. If we are persecuted, we ought to be sure we
are persecuted for the sake of truth, purity, humility, meekness, and obedience
to the Word of God.
Sooner or later, when tested, what is in our hearts will be
manifested in our lives. A heart full of
bitterness and resentment and ingratitude will, despite our best efforts at
suppression, eventually boil over in and be voiced. On the other hand, no matter how hard the
outer shell, under pressure, Christ will be exposed in the Christian.
At the moment when it seems that all is lost and that we are
bound to die, we are surprised by the life of Christ released and breaking
forth. In the darkest depths of
suffering and anguish, we come to the end of ourselves and find inexplicable
joy. We may never be happy again in this
life, but we will rejoice always in Christ.
We turn loose of everything in this world to find that we have not only
lost nothing but gained everything. It
is the contradiction and near absurdity of our faith, the wry, smiling,
all-knowing foolishness of God.
I have said, in moments of great pain, that surely life must
be a joke. There is some truth to that,
but it is not the sick joke of the nihilist.
It is a grand and glorious joke, and we are in on it. It is not a joke to those in hell, but that
is because they took the wrong things too seriously. Our love for the lost must make us sorrowful
for their sakes, yet we cannot help being overwhelmed by exultation of the
deliverance all may know. We rightly
grieve when a beloved face is taken from us, but we rejoice knowing we will see
them again where there is no parting.
When age or infirmity or circumstances leave us weakened and
hemmed in, we may look back on youth and health and past opportunities with
longing and a little regret, yet we know this is the path that takes us to the
place of eternal youth, beauty, and liberty.
Our understanding brings a little of that beauty into the present to put
a shine on a wrinkled face and make us glory in our weaknesses.
Ours is a life of paradox.
There’s no way around it. Sin
grieves us – in ourselves and in others, not because we hate them but because
we love them, and we know too well the destruction that awaits those who walk
that road. Do I look like a fool
screaming at someone to get out of his house?
Perhaps. But it is afire. Love motivates me. I weep that all do not know the joy of the
Lord.
