Last night I had the privilege to talk to a couple of sisters who are having great difficulties in their life. For them the rain has poured down, the flood is coming in, and the wind is howling at the door.
For one of these sisters the problem is a financial one and due to gross injustice in the world she is suffering. While it would be a mistake to say that she isn't anxious over her situation it would be wrong to say that she is fearful of the hurricane that is about to rip through her life. I admire her faith and when she tells me, "I'm not scared" I sincerely believe her.
Sadly she has been abandoned in her time of need by those who should be blood bound to take care of her. I think of David who was no stranger to adversity and I secretly wonder if there will ever come a time that finds us running around and living in caves like David - our house having turned on us. But should I really wonder when the Lord Jesus tells Christians to expect that very thing? "Indeed, a man’s enemies will be persons of his own household." (Matthew 10:36) As for David I doubt any of us could match the beauty of the lyrics to his song recorded at Psalm 27.
"Jehovah is my light and my salvation.
Of whom shall I be in fear?
Jehovah is the stronghold of my life.
Of whom shall I be in dread?
...
In case my own father and my own mother did leave me,
Even Jehovah himself would take me up.
...
Hope in Jehovah; be courageous and let your heart be strong.
Yes, hope in Jehovah."
Of whom shall I be in fear?
Jehovah is the stronghold of my life.
Of whom shall I be in dread?
...
In case my own father and my own mother did leave me,
Even Jehovah himself would take me up.
...
Hope in Jehovah; be courageous and let your heart be strong.
Yes, hope in Jehovah."
Today, in particular those who hope in Jehovah and those who follow the sayings of His son are being targeted by the accuser and his children on the earth. (Rev 12:10) But no one said that this Christian life would be easy. To the contrary our master Jesus asks us point blank at Matthew 20:10, "Can you drink the cup that I am going to drink?" He tells us, "pick up [your] torture stake day after day and follow me." (Luke 9:22,23) Following Jesus does not come without hardship and sometimes it may even mean that we have no place to lay down our head. (Luke 9:58)
But the storm of such tribulation can be met as courageously as Jesus met it. And though our house may shake a little bit in the driving wind and battering rain, and though we may startle at the crack of thunder we are confident when the morning star shines our house will still be standing; that is if our house is built on faith - faith in the Son and faith in the Father who sent him.
We are in a long-distance race "pursuing down toward the goal for the upward call of God by means of Christ Jesus" (Philippians 3:1) And as is true with physical marathon anyone who wishes to run such a spiritual race must build up endurance - not just in the short stretch but in the long haul. The scriptures constantly motivate us toward endurance as is found in James 1:2,3, "Consider it all joy, my brothers, when YOU meet with various trials, knowing as YOU do that this tested quality of YOUR faith works out endurance."
The Bible book of Revelation prophetically calls for a special time for endurance in the future. It speaks of a period when a worldwide government, symbolized by a seven headed wild beast, will put under compulsion all persons of the earth to receive its "mark" by submitting to its rule and rejecting the Kingdom of God. Regarding this the prophecy reads, "And it [the wild beast] puts under compulsion all persons, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free and the slaves, that they should give these a mark in their right hand or upon their forehead, and that nobody might be able to buy or sell except a person having the mark, the name of the wild beast or the number of its name." - Revelation 13:16,17
This prophecy indicates tests and trials for all for those who will not worship this beast-like Government and will remain loyal to God's Kingdom. We can only imagine what financial hardships will come upon those who would are not able to participate in the day-to-day commerce of buying and selling. Revelation 14:9 therefore contains a call for endurance saying, "Here is where it means endurance for the holy ones, those who observe the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.”
Each day we are given opportunities to build this kind of endurance and faith. But too often we may find that we have spent a lot of time, perhaps all of our lives, building a hollow, lifeless faith - a sand foundation that can in no way last what is to come upon us. We may have built a beautiful sand castle. It looks impressive and yet when the waves wash ashore it instantly dissolves. If water has that effect how then will it be when the day of fire comes upon us? (2 Peter 3:5-7)
Going back to our starting scripture Matthew 7:24-27 our foundation is built on hearing and then doing the sayings of Jesus Christ. Paul says this same thing to the Corinthian congregation, "For no man can lay any other foundation than what is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on the foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood materials, hay, stubble, each one’s work will become manifest, for the day will show it up, because it will be revealed by means of fire; and the fire itself will prove what sort of work each one’s is. If anyone’s work that he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward; if anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved; yet, if so, [it will be] as through fire. (1 Corinthians 3:11-14)
The second sister I talked to is going through a difficult time in discovering that her foundation might not be as solid as she had once thought. I hesitate to put words in her mouth so I will speak of my own example as it is somewhat similar and in doing so I will attempt to be sensitive to those who read this. I was raised as one of Jehovah's Witnesses and was taught many wonderful Bible truths from an early age. I was excited by the resurrection hope and the thought of living forever in a paradise on Earth. I recognized a God of love who sent his own son to die for us. I was also given a Bible based moral code to live by and while I had my failings all and all I lived a life morally elevated from those around me. Too I was also raised with a set of works that was ingrained in me from an early age - most Witnesses can easily recite this recipe for everlasting life, that is, meeting attendance, field service, personal study, Bible reading, and prayer. I did all of those things - sometimes a lot and sometimes less and occasionally not at all.
The one thing I lacked was endurance. It was not uncommon for me to pioneer for many months and then quickly become irregular in service or I would have a spurt of meeting attendance and then suddenly become absent. I had a history of numerous failed Bible reading programs. (As a result I think I have probably read Genesis more than any other book of the Bible) My prayers were spotty, hit and miss, and normally relegated to times when I felt that I needed something, mostly material. It just didn't seem like I could maintain any one area let alone manage them all.
And even when I was doing these things it was rather hollow and mechanical. The extent of my personal study was underlining a Watchtower magazine. My Bible reading was covering a prescribed amount of chapters each day and counting them down like a prison sentence. When I prayed to God I resorted to a standard set of clichés, saying the same things over and over again. My ministry activity was just passing out literature or quickly blasting through a thirty-second sermon without ever really getting to know my neighbor. And when I met together at Christian meetings I never used these opportunities for Christian fellowship. There too I missed opportunities to get to know my brothers and sisters and to demonstrate the love that was supposed to be the mark of true Christians (Hebrews 10:24,5; John 13:35)
Most of the time I just went through the motions and had fooled myself thinking that I as long as I was doing what was asked of me by an organization of men and fully relying on them that my future was secure. But the things that I was doing to build and demonstrate faith, while good and noble things, were just hay and stubble and sand. I did not have a foundation that would get me through even the smallest of life's problems, let alone the big things that shake us to our core.
One of those big things happened to me in 2004 and it resulted in my house not just giving way a bit but also completely collapsing. It feels weird to think of me then. As it is, I still remember anecdotally how it was for me and yet that person seems so foreign and strange. Was that really me who doubted the existence of God? Was that really me that flagrantly thumbed my nose at God's moral commands? My problem was when I lost my faith - I just didn't lose it a little - I lost every scrap of it. Sadly, a foundation that I had spent twenty-seven years building simply vanished overnight.
And yet here I am now by the grace (underserved kindness) of God assured of His love for me and determined to follow his commands and the words of His son, Jesus. My life has improved so much since then and in every way possible my spirituality has increased to levels I never knew. I don't blow my own horn for it was God who did the calling and the building up. As Paul put it, "You people are God's field under cultivation, God's building." (1 Corinthians 3:9) and again, "For YOU behold his calling of YOU, brothers, that not many wise in a fleshly way were called, not many powerful, not many of noble birth; but God chose the foolish things of the world, that he might put the wise men to shame; and God chose the weak things of the world, that he might put the strong things to shame; and God chose the ignoble things of the world and the things looked down upon, the things that are not, that he might bring to nothing the things that are, in order that no flesh might boast in the sight of God. But it is due to him that YOU are in union with Christ Jesus, who has become to us wisdom from God, also righteousness and sanctification and release by ransom; that it may be just as it is written: “He that boasts, let him boast in Jehovah.” (1 Corinthians 1:27)
Now in retrospect I can see why things went wrong for me. My faith was exclusively in imperfect men. I didn't listen to God who told me again and again and again at Psalms 146:3 "Do not put YOUR trust in nobles, Nor in the son of earthling man, to whom no salvation belongs." and yet it was in these noble men that I absolutely staked my salvation. It is so easy to become of follower of men because to some extent it relieves us of any obligation to answer for our own decisions. At 2 Corinthians 13:5 we are told to, Keep testing whether YOU are in the faith, keep proving what YOU yourselves are.. Unfortunately we can rely too much on others to prove to us "whether we are in the faith" and focus ourselves in "pleasing men". (Galatians 1:10) After all it is men who attempt to make us accountable to them, it is men that we can see, and sadly it is these men who can become an idol standing in the way and blocking our vision to "the spiritual realities not beheld" - these very men cutting us off from the "kingdom of the heavens" (Hebrews 11:1; Matthew 23:13) Here we are living the hour, "when the true worshipers will worship the Father with spirit and truth." and yet we still are tempted worship through the physical people, places, and things as if Jesus never came to earth and showed us the better way. (John 4:21) And although Jesus Christ set us free from law we still seek to gain salvation by an extensive set of rules, codes, and structured systems of works. This can become a "yoke of slavery" that can prevent us from "walking by spirit" in the very same way it proved to be a fatal stumbling block for many Christians in the 1st century. (Galatians 5:1,16-18) All of this constitutes "a form of godly devotion" and yet it is completely powerless and ineffectual. (2 Timothy 3:5)
It is not uncommon upon making these realizations to ask a hard question, "Where should I should I go now?" I asked that question and I'm sure that I wasn't the first nor will I be the last. Some who discover that their system of worship may be flawed are quick to hastily exchange it for another system of worship that is even more flawed then the one they left behind. To me this is contrary to the words of our Lord, Jesus Christ and our obligation to those related to us in the faith.
I ask this, If I were to say, "I'm in the Truth", what would that mean to you? Well you may relate "the truth" to our organization, our religion. But "the truth" as presented in the Bible is none other than Jesus. For Jesus says at John 14:6, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." We would be quite foolish to attempt to come to the Father through men or an organization when Jesus is the only way. And to say that we are "in the truth" should only mean one thing to us - that we are "in union with Christ" (Galatians 3:26-29)
Again we may ask the question, "Where should we go?" However in truth it is not really a question as to where to go as it is a question of to whom to go to. The apostle Peter answers thusly, "Lord, whom shall we go away to? You have sayings of everlasting life" (John 6:68) How wonderful it is to come to know our Heavenly Father through His representative, Jesus! (John 5:43) How can one not be impressed with the qualities that Jesus displayed, in particular his love and his selflessnes? It was in these things that Jesus set the example and the path for us, such as it is written in 1 Peter 2:21 "In fact, to this [course] YOU were called, because even Christ suffered for YOU, leaving YOU a model for YOU to follow his steps closely. He committed no sin, nor was deception found in his mouth."
We recognize that the brotherhood that we love so much does not belong to a legal body or any men taking the lead among us; but rather it belongs to Christ who is the head of the congregation. (Colossians 1:18; 1 Corinthians 1:12,13) Having affection for Jesus means taking care of those whom he loves and we show this by tenderly feeding and shepherding his little sheep. (John 21:15-17) Each and every occasion for gathering together as Christians provides us a beautiful opportunity to build each other’s faith, to encourage one another and "incite to love and fine works". (Hebrews 10:24,25) We strive to provide a good example of Godly conduct so that others can imitate our faith. (Hebrews 13:7) Doing so we build our own foundation by doing the words of Jesus and at the same time we help others to build a solid foundation of faith. Not that we as imperfect men become masters over the faith of others but our aim is to help others stand by means of their own faith. (2 Corinthians 1:24)
So for me I found that after going to the Father through Jesus I really had nowhere else that I needed to go. I was blessed to be in association with a group of people of who for the most part are generally interested in God and the Bible. I'm happy to attend the spiritual meetings and minister on their behalf and serve shoulder to shoulder with them as God's fellow workers in the ministry work. My hope is that in some small way I could serve them, to impart some spiritual gift, and to have a real "interchange of encouragement" through mutual expressions of faith. (Romans 1:11,12). There is an urgency in this because I realize there may come a time when I'm not able to. (John 16:2) In the meantime, I try my best to keep in mind Paul's words at Galatian 6:10, "Really, then, as long as we have time favorable for it, let us work what is good toward all, but especially toward those related to [us] in the faith."
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