Daily Archives: October 4, 2011

The Lovely Anxiety

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The Christian Cross.

Image via Wikipedia

The Gospel of Christ is so wonderfully beautiful.  Even the rebuke of God becomes a lovely thing for the Christian.  For we know that He corrects and disciplines those He loves.  To walk with Him toward His desire for all His people is to breathe The True Air of Life.  And yet.

The desire to share this love for Him consumes His people.  Why wouldn’t you want to share the absolute best life has to offer?  And when we see others struggle between the knowledge of good and bad, the anxiety sets in.  We’re not anxious because we fear Him.  We’re anxious because we see them hear our words with no understanding at all.  It’s like we speak an entirely different language.  I can speak about a duck.  But that’s not what they hear.  I can call white what it is, but they seem to get confused.  And so I feel anxious to share what they can’t possibly understand without His help.

I love this anxiety, however.  It’s a yearning within me to share.  And I love that yearning.  Though it causes pain, it’s a pain worthy of carrying.  And, who knows, perhaps one or two will be enabled to understand.  So I run the race as He allows.  For it is God alone who produces the fruit of understanding.

 

By His Grace.

A Necessary Bad Idea

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Never taunt an angry drunk.  Especially, don’t taunt a very large, angry drunk.  You will become his target.  And the violence he had done in the past will become a storm of hatred.  He will become like every vicious animal.  And you will regret it.

The world is angry because it can’t have what it wants.  And some, if not many, are drunk with desire.  Unless you are willing to die, it is not wise to taunt them.  Yet, isn’t it the effect the Gospel has on the world? 

The Gospel speaks of the wickedness of man as leading to certain death.  And it speaks of the glories that await those who obey the Lord Jesus.  The combination presented to those drunk with desire for the things of the world will certainly rouse their anger.

Look at the situation in America, Egypt, Lybia, Grease, and others.  See how desire for riches, power, and world strength have killed so many already.  And I am confident that when they have attained enough power and riches they will turn to God’s people. 

Yet I will taunt them.  I will speak of the Love of God displayed in His Gospel.  I will present myself for their salvation, if they will have it.  But I will also brace myself for what surely comes of that.  I remember how some were treated before I knew the Gospel.  I remember how they were cast out of friendships.  I remember how the whispers about them were abundant.  And I remember how they lost what was dear to them as they served the Lord.

Bring a Bible into the home of a happy couple.  Allow that one of them will believe the message.  That one will start to pull away from the world’s ways.  While the other will hate this change.  There will be tension.  There will be a falling out.  And, if one remains in unbelief while the other grows in Christ Jesus, there will be an explosion between them. 

It will be the same for everyone who believes the Gospel in this world.  Though they were once married to a hatred of God, now they learn to love Him.  As their love grows, so do the tensions.  And at some point, His people are cast out.  If you think this isn’t true, then I ask you, “Why are so many who think they are Christians keep their mouth shut?”  It is because they fear what they know is certain to happen. 

But I will proclaim!  I am not afraid of being cast out.  The Lord has allowed that I should be cast out all my life.  And it has become my advantage now.  You have nothing I want, world.  The Lord’s ways and promises are my desire, and this by His Grace.  I urge you to come and consider this strength.  You think it is strong to remain in the world.  But the world is a coward before the Most High God.  He will appear.  And all who put their trust in the things of this world will be utterly ashamed.

By His Grace.