A challenge . . .

Sitting in my husband’s hospital room while they took him for a test, I grabbed a deck of cards and played a very mindless version of solitaire that is hardly ever won. As I played game after game (it goes quick), I started to think how I was willing to do this over and over without much chance of success, yet not as willing to share the gospel over and over for the same reason. Success, as in having the listener respond to Jesus, is just about as rare.

Chamber says in today’s reading that behind that excuse of “what’s the use” is that I might have certain affinities that keep me from speaking the good news, that is, an unwillingness to suffer the rejections that are part of the package. He quotes Paul who said:

For I think that God has exhibited us apostles as last of all, like men sentenced to death, because we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men. We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are held in honor, but we in disrepute. To the present hour we hunger and thirst, we are poorly dressed and buffeted and homeless, and we labor, working with our own hands. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; when slandered, we entreat. We have become, and are still, like the scum of the world, the refuse of all things. (1 Corinthians 4:9–13)

Being considered the scum of the world and treated like garbage is a lot more loathsome than repeatedly losing a game of solitaire. Chambers says this repulsion is part of the flesh, mere humanness. When the ordinary person comes in contact with baseness and immorality and treachery, “the recoil is so desperately offensive to human goodness that the heart shuts up in despair.”

He is right. I do recoil in horror to baseness, even when others are treated like scum. A patient in the room next to my husband was overheard yelling at a nurse saying she didn’t belong in Canada and should go back where she came from. Another nurse told me that patients sometimes strike her. Such things offend me, even though they are not happening to me.

Christians are told we are idiots, brainless, and all sorts of other negative descriptions just for believing what we believe — whether we share it with them or not. Many times, their concept of our faith is skewed, but no matter; the criticism is enough to silence me . . .  at least far too often. I am repelled by rejection and verbal abuse.

But Peter wrote, “Do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you . . . .” (1 Peter 4:12) Chambers says that if I think that the fiery trial of rejection is a surprise, it could be because I am craven-hearted, another word for “cowardly.”

That could be true (do I want to admit it?), but whatever the reason, Chambers reminds me that I am free to be “saved by the skin of my teeth” and do nothing at all, or I can say: “I do not care if I am treated as scum as long as the Gospel is proclaimed.” This begs the question: who am I the most in love with – Jesus or myself?

Servants of Jesus Christ are willing to go to martyrdom for the reality of the gospel of God. I don’t know if I would die for the good news. I do know, as Chambers says, the marvel of God’s redemptive love is that the worst and the vilest sinner can never get to the bottom of it.

God loves me, vile or not. He loved the world so much that He sent His Son to die for those who will believe in Him. He also gave each of us who do believe an incredible purpose . . . to be like Jesus. Paul did not say that God separated him to show what a wonderful man He could make of him, but “to reveal his son in me.”

Jesus died for me so my sin is forgiven, but also so I can reflect the image of Jesus Christ. How selfish of me to be willing to reflect only His glory and not His suffering.

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Bob was given the good news that he can finish the healing process at home. I picked him up at noon and we will celebrate. May this month of viruses, germs, fever, bruises, shortness of breath, weakness, and other nasty things eventually be only a memory! We are grateful to the Lord for His grace and comfort, and to all who prayed and expressed their concern and love. Thank you!

Be Reconciled

A woman in a television show kept returning to her abusive husband. After each time he beat her, he charmed her into a reconciliation, making promises that he did not keep. I still see her mashed and bleeding face as she closed the door on those who wanted to help her out of this terrible abuse.

It was only a show, but this happens over and over in real life. This isn’t the place, nor do I have the expertise to write about such inhumane treatment, however, I would like to say something about genuine reconciliation. It does not mean coming back to a relationship of abuse.

Reconciliation is actually a wonderful word. It means a changed relationship for the better between persons or groups who formerly were at enmity with each other. The Bible encourages reconciliation between estranged people and spouses, but this term most often refers to the new relationship between God and humanity made possible by Christ’s redemptive work. The key part of this definition is that things are “changed” when genuine reconciliation occurs.

In fact, this word is totally inappropriate when one of the estranged persons consents to any abuse by the other. God didn’t save me so He could make harsh demands and push me around. Genuine reconciliation is about both sides wanting the very best for one another. It is so good, that the person who is genuinely reconciled to God wants others to have that same relationship. An abused person would not wish their life on anyone. Paul wrote about how this works.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. (2 Corinthians 5:17-21)

As my devotional book says, we are an extension of the ministry that God the Father gave to His Son. Jesus said, “As You have sent me into the world, I have also sent them into the world” (John 17:18).

An “ambassador” is someone living in another country for the purpose of representing their homeland to that country. Jesus commits to me “the word of reconciliation” but ambassadors are more than messengers. I and the life I live represents the Sovereign God who sent me.

In the Roman Empire, there were two kinds of provinces, the senatorial and the imperial. The senatorial provinces were generally friendly to Rome, submitted to Roman rule and under the control of the Senate. The imperial provinces were acquired later and were not as friendly, and under the authority of the emperor himself. To these areas, the emperor sent ambassadors to govern and maintain peace.

This sheds more light on the role of a Christian ambassador. I have been called by my King to serve as an ambassador in a world that is in rebellion against Him. He has given me a message of peace and reconciliation and I am to implore people to be reconciled to God.

In light of what Paul wrote, I often feel as if I’m not doing my job. Part of that is that I tend to gauge my success by the responses of those who hear the message. These days, most seem to lack any interest in spiritual things. They may want God to help them with some things, but reject the idea that they must be reconciled to Him and they do not want their lives to change.

Thinking of this in terms of the abused woman in the television show, far too often sinful people seem to prefer the abuse of sin. To them, it is a security that they know. Even with the bruises and pain of sin’s consequences, sticking with that lifestyle is preferable in their minds to a relationship with God.

From my side of things, I cannot imagine how knowing God can seem even more frightening than sin and its consequences, yet He tells me that I must somehow take the hand of those caught in the abuse of sin and urge them toward the freedom of reconciliation and peace with Him.