“If you want a guarantee, buy a dishwasher!” These are the plain spoken words of a wise man to me early on in my spiritual journey that eventually led me to the Orthodox Church.
He was responding to my questions about assurance of salvation and my mindset that still saw my relationship with God and my Christian life as more of a contractual business relationship rather than the messy relationships based on love! I had to be confronted with my own delusion that somehow my life in Christ was suppose to make my life “safe, “easy” or “smooth sailing” all the way to the pearly gates. Needless to say that mindset betrayed my selfish desire to be pampered by God rather than transformed.
But, let’s face it, following Christ in a purposeful way isn’t easy, safe, or even pleasant. Especially, in our current day, we followers of Christ are challenged to remain faithful to Christ and His Gospel in the face of an increasingly hostile society. Our society is quickly becoming an inhospitable place for the Message of the Faith.
Listen to the words of our Lord in today’s Gospel Lesson:
The Lord said to his disciples, “Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. Beware of men; for they will deliver you up to councils, and flog you in their synagogues, and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear testimony before them and the Gentiles. When they deliver you up, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say; for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour; for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. Brother will deliver up brother to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death; and you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved.”
That doesn’t sound like a life of ease and pampering at all. Sheep among wolves! Hey, I’ve seen the National Geographic specials about predators and prey! It never turns out good for the sheep!
But look at what the Lord says. He is sending us out into this very turbulent world. He is warning us that this environment is going to require us to be “wise and serpents and innocent as doves!” Just look at the temptations to over react in an unloving way to all the provocations of modern society. We are constantly tempted to lash out, to correct, and to “set folks straight!” Is that “innocent as doves?” This wisdom means being faithful WITHOUT rejecting the persons for whom Christ came to redeem! But this also means knowing our own faith well enough to stay faithful to the timeless Message of Christ AND loving even to those who oppose that Message.
Of course that means those of us who remain faithful have to abandon the notion of “safety” or acceptance of this modern age. And we have to face the fact that our fidelity to the Faith will bring us into conflict with the prevailing powers of today. Are you ready to face that reality?
The Good News is that when this happens (and it will and it does) we are promised by the Lord the Holy Spirit will give us the words to say to provide a witness to the timelessness of the Wisdom of Christ. It isn’t even about convincing others. It is all about enduring to the end. Those are the ones who will be saved!
Today, you have been sent out into this world by Christ to make a clear witness of His love and message to all humanity. You aren’t promised you will be popular, and you aren’t promised you’ll be “safe.” What you are promised is you’ll have the words you need and your endurance, your faithfulness, will provide you with a salvation that public opinion, modern madness, and even outright hatred of the Lord’s Message cannot overcome. If you are going to be Orthodox on purpose, the only guarantee you have is you will be opposed AND you will be fine! Don’t allow the madness of the modern world to cow you into silence or submission to the shifting sands of fickle philosophies!
P.S. We are so very close to reaching our initial funding goal for our Intro to Orthodoxy video project. Our tentative date to shoot the demo video is July 10th. Will you help us cross the finish line of this goal by making a tax deductible gift at our website www.faithencouraged.org? Thank you so very much.
