"The unfolding of your words gives light ..." (Psalm 119:130a)
“Don’t ever give up in freedom what we would never have given up in persecution!” — An elderly Russian pastor to an American missionary interviewing him about the persecution suffered under Communism (The Insanity of God, p.196)
I take this to mean that prosperity is at least as dangerous to our faith as is persecution.
We are far more likely to be seduced into surrendering our faith and its essentials than we are to be scared out of it.
“Once God has spoken; twice have I heard this: that power belongs to God.” (Psalm 62:11)
“Well may the saint trust such a God! He is worthy of implicit confidence. Nothing is too hard for Him. If God were stinted in might and had a limit to His strength we might well despair. But seeing that He is clothed with omnipotence, no prayer is too hard for Him to answer, no need too great for Him to supply, no passion too strong for Him to subdue; no temptation too powerful for Him to deliver from, no misery too deep for Him to relieve.” (A.W. Pink, The Attributes of God, p.51)
“The Lord is my slave-driver,
I must never be satisfied.
He compels me to try harder.
He makes me labor more furiously;
He leads me into noisy activity.
He implores me to ignore the emptiness within
and just keep going;
He prods me in the paths of perfectionism
for His reputation’s sake.
Even as I walk through the valley of the shadow of burnout,
I fear a breakdown;
But no one can see the real me;
Your expectations and Your people,
they goad me on.
You prepare a list of expectations before me
in the presence of my peers;
You provoke me on and on,
My cup seems more parched than ever.
Surely serenity and rest will elude me all the days of my life.
And I will dwell in the land of the harried forever.”
(Song of the Satisfied Soul, pp.27-28)
We have made incredible progress is the dissemination of information.
But it seems we have experienced sad regress in the dissemination of life.
Because of electronic and technological advancements we are able to pass information at speeds and with ease unimaginable even just a few years ago.
Those same means however seem to have served, not to connect us more deeply, but to isolate us more thoroughly.
We can get data out in a flash. But it seems we can barely look another human being in the eye and have a meaningful conversation.
As a people called not to the dissemination of information, but to the transference of life, I think we have to ask: Have we helped or hindered the progress of the Great Commission of Jesus?
“… having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.” (Colossians 2:14)
“The record of your sins has been erased, removed, and crucified–be at rest!” (Colossians and Philemon for Pastors, p.199)
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