Standing Up

Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. -- Hebrews 12:3

I cannot say that, as a Christian, I have encountered a lot of direct, personal hostility.  I have lived all my life in a majority-Christian nation, associating mostly with people who were, at the very least, cultural Christians.  There does seem to be a sort of sea-change right now, and growing animus aimed at the heart of the Church.  If this anti-Christ movement gains momentum, we should not become discouraged.

I think I would have a hard time welcoming serious persecution, yet, in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says, “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.  Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”   

I don’t know if I can do that. 

Should it become, in what remains of my earthly journey, a crime to follow Christ, to speak His Name, to speak the truth in love, or to live in obedience to the Bible and the dictates of my conscience, the best I could hope is to follow the admonition from Hebrews.  If I cannot rejoice in hostility and oppression, perhaps I can endure without fainting and giving up. 

Christ was victorious.  He will always be victorious.  Those who might hope to eradicate Christianity or, worse, neutralize and pervert it, will find their efforts backfiring on them badly.  They might demolish the churches but the Church will stand stronger and taller than ever.  They might set fire to a building, but we are baptized in fire and the Holy Spirit.  It is our native element. 

With the Morning

For his anger is but for a moment, and his favor is for a lifetime.  Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning.  -- Psalms 30:5

Jesus spoke of the mother who forgets the pain of giving birth in the joy of receiving her child.  The writer of Hebrews speaks of, “… looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:2). 

If we go back to the book of Nehemiah, we read of those who returned to Jerusalem from their long exile.  When they were instructed in the law, their eyes were opened to how they had fallen short of the Lord’s requirements, and they were grieved.  They began to weep (Nehemiah 8:9-10).

Sorrow isn’t a pleasant, but godly sorrow is healthy.  One of the dangers of continuing certain habits and being continuously exposed to even depictions of wickedness and lawlessness is that we tend to become desensitized.  This is sometimes thought of as “hardening” when, a lot of times, it is more simply ignoring.  The Spirit of God must break the shell of indifference and resignation more often than actual hardened evil.  The result, though, in either case, is that our hearts are grieved by the presence of that which is displeasing to God. 

At some point, however, we must set aside the anguish and the pain and begin to experience the joy of the Lord.  We are forgiven.   To stay too long in sorrow is to risk developing self-pity:    And Nehemiah, who was the governor, and Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people said to all the people, “This day is holy to the Lord your God; do not mourn or weep.” For all the people wept as they heard the words of the Law.  Then he said to them, “Go your way. Eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions to anyone who has nothing ready, for this day is holy to our Lord. And do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”

Whether our grief comes from conviction or from suffering and loss and the daily trials of life, the Lord does not want us to be overwhelmed or overburdened by it.  We may weep through the night for we are, after all, creatures of flesh, and we see not well in the dark.  The dawn arrives to break through our darkness.  Hope can again be seen. 

Though there I times I have trouble believing it, morning always comes. 

When God is Unreasonable

Jesus said to them, My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. -- John 4:34

I have been reading through Lewis’ Space Trilogy again.  About halfway through Out of the Silent Planet, I realized that I am not the same person who read these books so many years ago.  Back then I rated Out of the Silent Planet very highly, in part because it is a good science fiction novel – the best of the three in that regard.  Originally, Perelandra was not available to me – I was too broke to buy them, and I was getting them from the library, so I read That Hideous Strength out of order.  I thought it was good and had a lot of good ideas, but I have come to realize, having since read The Abolition of Man, that I did not fully appreciate Lewis’ vision.  When I got around to Perelandra, I was disappointed.  It seemed very contrived and not all that well-written. 

I finished OotSP a couple of weeks ago.  The re-reading did not change my opinion.  It is a good science fiction novel, but I see it now primarily as a setup for what is to come.  It gives us a new perspective on the war in the heavenlies of which we are a part.  I started Perelandra with some trepidation only to find that I was getting a lot that I had not gotten before.  Thirty or so years have added quite a bit to my experience and understanding. 

Perelandra's plot turns on a temptation that recapitulates that of Eve by the Serpent in Eden.  The protagonist, philologist Elwin Ransom – modeled, it is thought, onTolkien, is present during the temptation and observes the process.  He is even able to interject arguments into the debate between the tempter and the subject of the temptation.  Unlike the biblical presentation of the temptation and fall in Eden, the subject in Perelandra successfully resists the tempter repeatedly.  However, the diabolical agent never stops, and the trial wears on over many days.  This leads to the climax which, so long ago, I dismissed as a failure on Lewis’ part.  I was wrong. 

Anyway, I wanted to talk about one of the devil’s points in his attempt to lure the subject into disobedience.  He says that the prohibition God had placed on Perelandra’s version of humanity is unreasonable, and that it really makes no sense.  He then argues that if God has proclaimed such an irrational ban His intent must be for the subjects to realize the absurdity of it and disobey.  In other words, God will be pleased if they disobey Him and “think for themselves”.  I’m not doing the strand of the debate in the novel full justice.  As is the case in Screwtape, Lewis undermines the devil best by being his most able advocate. 

The subject does not fall for this particular line of reasoning, seeing, instead, that, as Ransom explains: 

In all these other matters what you call obeying Him is but doing what seems good in your own eyes also.  Is love content with that?  You do them, indeed, because they are His will, but not only because they are His will.  Where can you taste the joy of obeying unless He bids you do something for which His bidding is the only reason?

A lot of us will say that we ought to obey God because He knows best, and that is certainly true.  We can say, like the song, that we’ll understand it better by-and-by.  That is true, too.  Yet, love acts all the time not for sense but for joy.  We do silly things to please the ones we love here on earth.  As children, we obey our parents both because we know they are wiser and because we want them to know we love them.  I can tell you, too, that, as a grandparent, I sometimes do things, not because they are particularly wise but solely to see the grandchildren laugh.  Sometimes I set them to tasks that will, if they follow through, make us both laugh. 

Imagine making God laugh with our irrational obedience. 

Christian Economics

These are the things that you shall do: Speak the truth to one another; render in your gates judgments that are true and make for peace; do not devise evil in your hearts against one another, and love no false oath, for all these things I hate, declares the LORD.  – Zechariah 8:16-17

As we learned from Micah 6:8, the Lord really does not ask that much of us.  Tell the truth.  Don’t stir up trouble or go along with oppression.  Understand that everybody has a right to live, and that cheating, defrauding, taking unfair advantage, and being dishonest ends in conflict and ugliness.  It’s nice to know that God hates that sort of thing.  It takes the pressure off me. 

God is all for joy and peace and goodness.  He is all for us being happy and whole and prosperous.  Our efforts – as fallen souls, to achieve happiness will most often arise from selfishness and self-love.  I will ask myself what I want, what I need, and what will satisfy my cravings.  When you think about it, this is the foundation of all economic understanding and systems.  The free market person disagrees with the communist at the most fundamental level.  The Marxist answer to disparity, greed, envy, and jealousy is, ultimately, to reduce nearly everyone to the level of a gray-clad peasant. 

Jesus offers us a change of heart.  Christmas is often beautiful with its lights and gifts, but there is nothing like the elegance of a traditional Easter Sunday with the bright new clothes and colors and the celebration of new life.  By contrast, humanism, communism, socialism and fascism are studies in (what we now think of as) puritanical drudgery and misery.  There is no beauty like the beauty of holiness. 

I can’t change the world – for one, as they say, Jesus already changed it.  What I can do is live in His light, live His life here on earth.  A friend of mine used to say that if Jesus were present today, He would drive a Cadillac.  I think He’d drive a pickup because He’d be a hillbilly.  I wouldn’t be surprised to see Him riding a KTM or a Yamaha.  Whatever He rode or drove, He’d be happy with it.  He’d enjoy it, but He would not be attached to it.  When He bought it, He’d make sure that both He and the person He bought it from could live with the deal.  Everybody’s got to make a little.  That’s how life works.  We let the other guy have his cut.  Everybody does OK, and everybody has the opportunity to hustle a little and do better. 

The way of the world -- call it consumerism, corporatism, or Madison Avenue-style marketing, often plays on the weaknesses of the old nature seeking pleasure, status, recognition, acceptance and approval.  A Christian should be able to step back from that view.  I don’t condemn those who engage in that approach because it is “sensible” from a purely human perspective.  But we have the mind of Christ and are no longer held in thrall to the world and its mindset. 

On the other hand, I see nothing inherently un-Christian in a true free market system, which results, generally, in mutually beneficial exchange.  There is always going to be a certain amount of human error, slack, lag, and inefficiency in any system.  A free market has the advantage of tradition, experience, and wisdom to make corrections.  No single individual or group – whether government or private, is able to exert an excessive amount of control.

We can’t do too much about stupidity in Washington, D.C., or even up in our state capitol.  We can, though, refuse to act out of fear or greed.  We can take care of our families and friends.  We can contribute and be productive.  We can be truthful, merciful, charitable, and content.

I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need.  I can do all things through him who strengthens me. … And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:12-13,19). 

Smiling Grimly

[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.