Like Gina, I was struck when I read
Mark Earley's BreakPoint commentary today--about doing the right thing no matter what, in the face of horrible things.
Reading it, I was reminded of the story--details are a bit fuzzy now, but it went something like this: A study done at a seminary involved telling a dozen or so seminarians they had to attend a very important meeting, and that it was essential that they be on time. The researcher then planted a "suffering soul" on the route the seminarians would have to take to the meeting. The "suffering soul" was begging for help, or for food, or to be taken to the hospital. Without exception, the seminarians ignored him in favor of getting to their very important meeting on time.
The point of the story was that even highly committed Christians often let their own priorities stand in the way of doing the right thing. And if we think we'd do better, think of the thing you want most in the world--a "dream job" interview, a date with your dream man or woman. Would we be willing to sacrifice that thing in favor of doing what God wants us to do at that moment, or would we think, "Somebody else will be along in a few minutes...let him take care of it?"
Comments:
I went through a period waaay back in my college days, where my theological perspective took a major change. To outsiders it would have looked like a very small change but to me it was a matter of whether Christ was being “correctly” glorified by my other Christian friends. I spent many hours in witty (I thought) argument relishing in the satisfaction that I had profound insights, even if they didn’t come away agreeing with me. It was at this time that I finally realized something: Through my theological change my love for Christ had not changed. I had the same desire for Christ’s glorification before my change as afterward. From this the realization dawned on me, though it seems blaringly obvious to me now, that I am not the ultimate source of theological truth. I came to see the Word as the source of that truth, first, the Word incarnate, and then the word in print, the scriptures, and then the word expressed in history, the Church.
It is this last expression of the Word which makes Evangelicals and Fundamentalists cringe. Where is the doctrinal purity that is needed for Christian unity? To most it seems to mean if this or that church is not right then we have to split, go our own way, and make a purer church. This is when I came upon another realization; unity in the church is not based upon doctrinal purity, but upon submission.
Currently I am meditating in and memorizing Philippians. In this book the thought comes out clearly: “If there is any encouragement in being united with Christ… make my joy complete by being like-minded.” Being like-minded how? “Your attitude should be the same as Christ, who being in very nature God did not consider equality with God something to be grasped… but became obedient to death, even death on a cross.” I see the way to correct theological dialog and the way to church unity is, as it is for all Christian life, the way of the cross. In terms of church unity does this means will I stay with a church even if I think it is way off the mark or even if it’s dying and I’m not getting anything from the teaching? My answer has to be yes, Christ won the victory for me not by separating from apostate, unbelieving Israel or conquering it, but by dying for it and the world. So before I am ready to criticize someone from my lofted theological position I have to ask myself, am I ready to die for them? Am I ready to take their arguments in their best possible light, and if my thoughts are askew, am I ready to change my thinking? Am I willing to let them go on in their thinking knowing that their Master is also mine, and if He wishes to correct either of us, he will?
I was going to add that a good friend of mine, a co-worker in Accounting and a fellow Christian, got himself fired for over-reacting to getting called a "bean counter" in an email sent to everyone in the company. And, like those murdered World Vision people in Pakistan, he had just been doing his job. The lesson is to never reply to an all-employee email when you're angry.
But I realize that this could become a shipping&handling nightmare, so feel free to leave 'em in the bag until you reach a full unit. We'll let the, uh, bean counters keep track between us.
Mostly, it ranges around my willingness to serve God if He does my work for me. Or my inability to see what God is doing because I'm so focused on what I want Him to be doing.
I have to think that God follows LQs advice: renouncing being right. Not hitting us over the head with brute facts. Leaving time for the metamorphosis.
Motive, motive, motive.
It’s remarkable to me that the very things we pride (oops) ourselves in as “committed Christians” can and often do become the things that supplant true righteousness (which = faith, which = active relationship with God). We meticulously tithe our mint Bible studies and our dill evangelism while neglecting the weightier things of the law-which-is-fulfilled-in-one-word: love.
Pharisaism isn’t extinct; it just wears a better disguise. The more sophisticated the people, the more subtle the sin.
Is public prayer (as in, leading a prayer meeting for example) a good thing? Of course! And yet it can be a sin: Matthew 6:5-6.
Is private prayer a good thing? Of course! And yet it can be a sin: Matthew 6:7.
Is giving a good thing? Of course! And yet it can be a sin: Matthew 6:2.
Is thanksgiving to God a good thing? Of course! And yet it can be a sin: Luke 18:11.
And the same, I believe, may be said of fasting (v 16-18) and service (1 Cor 13:2) and martyrdom (1 Cor 13:2) and virtually anything else we might foolishly fancy sets us above our fellows in any way.
We are not to pursue right(eous)ness, per se. That’s what Israel did, and look where it got them (Romans 9:30-31). We are to pursue the love relationship with God Himself, which can only happen via faith. If we do this, the rest (i.e. holiness) will follow, for “faith works by loving”; and it is as we behold Him that we are transfigured into His likeness (2 Cor 3:18).
As I said, LeeQuod, I couldn’t agree with you more. In fact, it’s become such a common occurrence for me to agree with you that I obtained a copyright of the phrase: “I couldn’t agree with you more, LeeQuod”©. (Sorry, Jason, but you’ll have to pay ME this time. And no, I don’t want any pre-owned Milk Duds™. Sheesh, some guys.)
I found quite some time ago that science is a huge temptation for me; you can know answers in areas where some people don't even understand the questions. I was surprised to discover that theology was just like science. And I'm not talking about self-righteousness, necessarily, but about rightness - correcting others to the point that it damages relationships. (Ravi Zacharias has recently said this is a problem for many apologists.) And when you combine theology with science, as in apologetics or creationism, it can be a powerful temptation to hit people over the head with facts and their implications. Mix that with opponents who behave exactly the same way (like at, say, the old talk.origins newsgroup - a veritable pinnacle of grace for those who get things even slightly wrong) and you have a recipe for not following Christ.
As your poem so beautifully points out, Rolley (and I'm incredibly delighted to see your poetry again, thanks to Alan&Co. restoring newlines to us), sometimes the right thing to do is to renounce being right all the time.
I’ve also heard the same principle articulated this way: “the greater the sacrifice in doing the right thing, the more profound the benefit to others.” I think of Joseph.
Besides that, I’ve witnessed the truth of this principle in my own experience, as have, I do not doubt, many others here.
And if I’m not mistaken, this principle was central to what the apostle Paul learned when he said, “[God’s] strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.” (2 Cor 12:9-10)
Where was Father Rick’s principle more powerfully demonstrated than in Christ’s giving up everything for us? With jerryh, I think of Christ; I think of Christ.
As the Moravians would say, “Vicit Agnus Noster Eum Sequamur” (“Our Lamb Has Conquered, Let Us Follow Him).”
Victim
--© Rolley Haggard
He is, they say, an all-consuming fire,
And I believe. And yet, with fear and shame
Enfeebled in the grip of strange desire,
I, moth-like, circle closer to the flame.
From unapproachability’s cocoon
My monarch, velvet robed and dread, alights
Divining sacral blood; but as I swoon,
The incandescent orange throb that whites
My soul aborts in air like broken wings
Grotesquely spread. Transfixed, he mulls the kill;
Then, shedding scepter, crown, and colored rings
My metamorphosed nemesis goes still;
And I, enflamed on honeyed clover, die,
The victim of a mounted butterfly.