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A Christian
Thought for the Month - February 2014
Thoughts for believers & seekers
Thought for the Month -
What is Important to Us?
1 John 4:10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son.”
Near the end of last month, Rochford Life carried an interview with a passing Christian activist (see Eddie Romero, Christian Activist) who put his life on the line in 2008 to demonstrate in China against human rights violations and then again last year in Iran for the same thing. He was warned by dissidents from both those countries, now residing in the USA, that it was quite possible that he would be imprisoned for possibly up to ten years. With that in mind, he left his wife, family and church in the USA and went and protested. In the event the wise authorities promptly deported him, knowing that the news cycle of no more than twenty four hours would soon forget him if they did that. The dissidents from both countries were nevertheless encouraged by what he did on their behalf.
I confess, reading his account, left me wondering what sort of person it is who lays down his life for people who don’t know him and, of course, the classic answer has got to be Jesus Christ, for that is exactly what he did when he died on the Cross outside Jerusalem nearly two thousand years ago. Whether we understand it or not, the Bible declares that he did it, as the unique Son of God, to take the punishment that was due to each one of us, for all the wrong things we think, say and do throughout our lives.
Now talking with this little Mexican-American retired-pastor-hero you wonder what it was that made him do what he did. The answer is the same as Jesus Christ - he was convinced it was God’s will, that it was what God wanted him to do. He is also a man who is utterly convinced that in God’s hands he will be safe, although safe for him may be different from what safe means to many of us. Safe for many of us means free from harm or danger. Safe for that little activist means being absolutely sure that whatever happens, God will be there and there for him. The worst that could happen is that he might die in prison. He followed the apostle Paul’s dictum, “ For me to live is Christ (knowing him here and now), to die is gain (knowing him in heaven)”
Whatever you think about that, one thing is clear: here is a man who selflessly gives himself for others. You may think he is crazy and I know one or two crusading atheists who would say he was a fanatic but if he is, it is a fanaticism that does good, that stands up for the weak and down trodden, for the persecuted, for those with no voice in the world who are being trampled by the world’s power blocks, whether that is atheistic communism or some other ‘Ism’, or simply at the hands of some dictator with no beliefs except in himself. And if he is someone who gives his life to do good for others, then he simply follows in a long tradition of Christians who did good for others, who gave their lives over to do it.
Going back though history we find those working in the name of Christ to set up hospitals, caring for the poor, tending the sick, providing food for the hungry, caring for widows and orphans, speaking up for the underdog, providing literacy and education for the masses, abolishing slavery in the Western world, elevating the role of women, creating high standards of justice and civil liberties, developing art and music and being inspired to kick off modern science.
The truth is that left to ourselves we are self-centred and left unchecked human nature will always revert to self-serving ways that seek to gain at another’s expense. In the fourth century there was a man who eventually testified, “I had spent much time on follies and spent nearly all my youth in vain labours... Suddenly I awoke as out of a deep sleep. I beheld the wonderful light of the Gospel truth, and recognised the nothingness of the wisdom of the princes of this world.” This man became known as Basil of Caesarea and became a bishop in Asia Minor. He went on to champion the cause of the outcasts of society, working with the poor, the sick, and the prostitutes. He eventually built a large complex that included a poorhouse, a hospice, and a hospital.
There are others we could cite who similarly heard the good news of Jesus Christ, received him and were transformed and went on to touch the world with God’s goodness and love. Many a testimony tells of the dissolute life that was turned round. The apostle Paul wrote to the church in Ephesus, of Christians, “We are God’s workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” (Eph 2:10) In other words, God who knows us through and through knows what we are capable of with His love in us. Those ‘good works’ may be caring for others, establishing unions, teaching others, speaking up for those with no voice, standing alongside the weak, needy and downtrodden or so much more.
Left to ourselves these self-centred lives are also godless lives, empty lives, lives without a point, lives without meaning, lives that are unfulfilled. Every now and then we get a glimpse of that reality and then quickly cover it up in a variety of ways. It is uncomfortable to think such thoughts but deep down we know they are true, and every now and then we come across someone who is selfless, caring and compassionate and they bug us. We know we’d like to be like that but we just haven’t got it in us. And there we hit the truth. That ‘it’ is selfless love, the love of Christ and we only get it when we receive him. But we fight and we struggle and we try to push the truth away but it is there all the time in the background and it won’t go away.
Now why do I write like this? Because I have observed this so many times in so many different people and I find it tragic that people struggle and strive and all the time God is waiting there in the background to share His love, and all the time there is this life, this person, just waiting to be transformed. So many hear the contrary whispers in the back of the mind and turn away still miserable, but every now and then, one responds, one hears, seeks, finds and is transformed and the world will be changed some more for the good. How wonderful. How about you? Where are you in all this? You can e-mail to me at Rochford Life if you’d like to talk.
1 John 4:10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son.”
Near the end of last month, Rochford Life carried an interview with a passing Christian activist (see Eddie Romero, Christian Activist) who put his life on the line in 2008 to demonstrate in China against human rights violations and then again last year in Iran for the same thing. He was warned by dissidents from both those countries, now residing in the USA, that it was quite possible that he would be imprisoned for possibly up to ten years. With that in mind, he left his wife, family and church in the USA and went and protested. In the event the wise authorities promptly deported him, knowing that the news cycle of no more than twenty four hours would soon forget him if they did that. The dissidents from both countries were nevertheless encouraged by what he did on their behalf.
I confess, reading his account, left me wondering what sort of person it is who lays down his life for people who don’t know him and, of course, the classic answer has got to be Jesus Christ, for that is exactly what he did when he died on the Cross outside Jerusalem nearly two thousand years ago. Whether we understand it or not, the Bible declares that he did it, as the unique Son of God, to take the punishment that was due to each one of us, for all the wrong things we think, say and do throughout our lives.
Now talking with this little Mexican-
Whatever you think about that, one thing is clear: here is a man who selflessly gives himself for others. You may think he is crazy and I know one or two crusading atheists who would say he was a fanatic but if he is, it is a fanaticism that does good, that stands up for the weak and down trodden, for the persecuted, for those with no voice in the world who are being trampled by the world’s power blocks, whether that is atheistic communism or some other ‘Ism’, or simply at the hands of some dictator with no beliefs except in himself. And if he is someone who gives his life to do good for others, then he simply follows in a long tradition of Christians who did good for others, who gave their lives over to do it.
Going back though history we find those working in the name of Christ to set up hospitals, caring for the poor, tending the sick, providing food for the hungry, caring for widows and orphans, speaking up for the underdog, providing literacy and education for the masses, abolishing slavery in the Western world, elevating the role of women, creating high standards of justice and civil liberties, developing art and music and being inspired to kick off modern science.
The truth is that left to ourselves we are self-
There are others we could cite who similarly heard the good news of Jesus Christ, received him and were transformed and went on to touch the world with God’s goodness and love. Many a testimony tells of the dissolute life that was turned round. The apostle Paul wrote to the church in Ephesus, of Christians, “We are God’s workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” (Eph 2:10) In other words, God who knows us through and through knows what we are capable of with His love in us. Those ‘good works’ may be caring for others, establishing unions, teaching others, speaking up for those with no voice, standing alongside the weak, needy and downtrodden or so much more.
Left to ourselves these self-
Now why do I write like this? Because I have observed this so many times in so many different people and I find it tragic that people struggle and strive and all the time God is waiting there in the background to share His love, and all the time there is this life, this person, just waiting to be transformed. So many hear the contrary whispers in the back of the mind and turn away still miserable, but every now and then, one responds, one hears, seeks, finds and is transformed and the world will be changed some more for the good. How wonderful. How about you? Where are you in all this? You can e-