First off, thanks again to everyone who has sent me items and goodies from home. I can’t
tell you how helpful it’s been to receive so much valuable stuff from people who care. Caffeine and breakfast foods are among my most treasured possessions out here, since
the mornings are usually a bit of a rush. One other thing which has been very meaningful
is the devotional book I received from some good friends at 4th Presbyterian. It's because
of that last gift that I want to write to you again.
My devotional this morning covered Matthew 10:16-31, and it reminded me of just how
far people around the world are willing to go to maintain their witness for Jesus, even
unto the point of death. Just a cursory glance through the news will tell you that the world
at large is still a very unsafe place for people who believe in Jesus. Yet many believers
in the third world still believe to the point that they’re willing to suffer physically for
their faith. In the places of the world where Christianity is still spreading, the Enemy
is forced to take drastic and violent actions to silence the children of God. (Check out
www.persecution.org for more info.)
Sadly in the Western world, where the church enjoys the most safety, there is no need for
such things. In the first world, the Devil has no need to oppress God’s people when he
can simply bide his time while the church descends into irrelevance. I know many people
back home are still living out their faith in a vibrant, biblically sound way, but for every
one of those good people, there are a dozen more who live as if God were little more than
a hood ornament on a car; a token belief amid a sea of hypocritical action. Their outward
piety belies the true depths of their self-righteousness and deceit.
I refer not to backsliding Christians, of course, but rather more to those who make the
Gospel their living. I cannot count the number of “professional Christians” I’ve met who
use the Bible not to win souls, but rather to justify any and all actions they take, from
bankrupting the Church to build more edifices to moonlighting as a political lobbyist
and ultra-conservative commentator. As much as laymen are guilty of justifying their
personal sins by the gospel of Grace, I think men and women of the cloth are far guiltier
of justifying their own personal agendas by the gospel of false piety.
Such pretensions are utterly foreign to the third world church. In a place like East Africa,
where villages are routinely raided by armed men with AK-47’s, following Christ is far
less a matter of chasing after your own personal goals and far more a matter of fleeing for
your life.
If you take the time to read Matthew 10:16-31, you will see that Jesus never intended for
the Christian faith to be a cushy business. Unlike some Church leaders who preach the
gospel out of a desire to elevate themselves among the community, early Apostles rather
preached with the expectation that they would spend their lives fleeing from one city to
another.
We live in a time when the Church is being pushed further and further to the margins
of Western society. Rather than do something productive about it, most churches are
content to do as they’ve always done. For those few who are seeking to stay engaged
with the culture, I’d say the method needs to be far more personally rather than politically
motivated. Lives can only be transformed by the gospel when people encounter it in a
personal, one-to-one interaction. Top-down political reforms will never win souls for
Christ, and serve only to further alienate us from the increasingly-liberalized culture. To
be in the world, but not of the world, first requires that we know what it is the world is
dealing with. Taking the time to get to know non-believers on a personal basis is far more
difficult than simply legislating Christian ethics, which is probably why most people
choose the latter. However for those of us who see the growing revulsion among society
caused by such behavior, it is very troubling.
My devotion concluded with the following sentence, which I will also leave you with:
“If we are persecuted, we need to ensure it’s for the right things.”
tell you how helpful it’s been to receive so much valuable stuff from people who care. Caffeine and breakfast foods are among my most treasured possessions out here, since
the mornings are usually a bit of a rush. One other thing which has been very meaningful
is the devotional book I received from some good friends at 4th Presbyterian. It's because
of that last gift that I want to write to you again.
My devotional this morning covered Matthew 10:16-31, and it reminded me of just how
far people around the world are willing to go to maintain their witness for Jesus, even
unto the point of death. Just a cursory glance through the news will tell you that the world
at large is still a very unsafe place for people who believe in Jesus. Yet many believers
in the third world still believe to the point that they’re willing to suffer physically for
their faith. In the places of the world where Christianity is still spreading, the Enemy
is forced to take drastic and violent actions to silence the children of God. (Check out
www.persecution.org for more info.)
Sadly in the Western world, where the church enjoys the most safety, there is no need for
such things. In the first world, the Devil has no need to oppress God’s people when he
can simply bide his time while the church descends into irrelevance. I know many people
back home are still living out their faith in a vibrant, biblically sound way, but for every
one of those good people, there are a dozen more who live as if God were little more than
a hood ornament on a car; a token belief amid a sea of hypocritical action. Their outward
piety belies the true depths of their self-righteousness and deceit.
I refer not to backsliding Christians, of course, but rather more to those who make the
Gospel their living. I cannot count the number of “professional Christians” I’ve met who
use the Bible not to win souls, but rather to justify any and all actions they take, from
bankrupting the Church to build more edifices to moonlighting as a political lobbyist
and ultra-conservative commentator. As much as laymen are guilty of justifying their
personal sins by the gospel of Grace, I think men and women of the cloth are far guiltier
of justifying their own personal agendas by the gospel of false piety.
Such pretensions are utterly foreign to the third world church. In a place like East Africa,
where villages are routinely raided by armed men with AK-47’s, following Christ is far
less a matter of chasing after your own personal goals and far more a matter of fleeing for
your life.
If you take the time to read Matthew 10:16-31, you will see that Jesus never intended for
the Christian faith to be a cushy business. Unlike some Church leaders who preach the
gospel out of a desire to elevate themselves among the community, early Apostles rather
preached with the expectation that they would spend their lives fleeing from one city to
another.
We live in a time when the Church is being pushed further and further to the margins
of Western society. Rather than do something productive about it, most churches are
content to do as they’ve always done. For those few who are seeking to stay engaged
with the culture, I’d say the method needs to be far more personally rather than politically
motivated. Lives can only be transformed by the gospel when people encounter it in a
personal, one-to-one interaction. Top-down political reforms will never win souls for
Christ, and serve only to further alienate us from the increasingly-liberalized culture. To
be in the world, but not of the world, first requires that we know what it is the world is
dealing with. Taking the time to get to know non-believers on a personal basis is far more
difficult than simply legislating Christian ethics, which is probably why most people
choose the latter. However for those of us who see the growing revulsion among society
caused by such behavior, it is very troubling.
My devotion concluded with the following sentence, which I will also leave you with:
“If we are persecuted, we need to ensure it’s for the right things.”
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