Fragmented Perspective
"How can a man be righteous before God?" - Job 9:2
If you think you detected a somewhat caustic tone in my last post, you're right. Sometimes, after reading, watching, and hearing story after story of gut-wrenching violence carried out against Christians, I start to not-so-gracefully break. It's like all the screams of all those people are being ignored, and all their pain is one massive waste that we don't even care to try to stop. We, the educated, literate people. That awful feeling of enraged impotence sweeps over me - no matter how urgent the situation, only a few are aware, and they are too few to make a difference. I heap mental scorn upon the Church. She is self-absorbed and small-minded, busy with retreats and breakfasts and Wii for the youth group, nothing but a fat-cat society club blind to the struggles of the poor, the sick, and the imprisoned. "This is not what you want, Lord," I tell God. "It's not enough! We are all failing."
As if He doesn't know that already.
"There is no one righteous, not even one;
there is no one who understands,
no one who seeks God.
All have turned away,
they have together become worthless;
there is no one who does good,
not even one."
This week, I was reminded that the Most Holy God does not get His news from the BBC. His perspective is not mine - He can see everything, in its entirety. He is not dependent on me, or on the Church - it's the other way around. I only see fragments; God sees every human heart.
God knows we're not enough - that's exactly the point of the Law, of the Prophets, of the Gospel itself. He gave His only Son precisely because we are all failing. Jesus was God's rescue mission for humanity, and God knew (and knows) the evil inclinations of mankind. The Bible's record in this regard is clear: Adam and Eve rebelled, their son Cain murdered his brother Abel, the Israelites committed idolatry and adultery shortly after God rescued them from slavery in Egypt, the temple priests were scalping poor people in the name of piety, the prophets who spoke God's words were thrown into wells, stoned, and imprisoned by their fellow Jews...the list goes on. God's redemption in Jesus Christ was possible because God willed it and carried it out, not because humans planned it or deserved it.
We will never be enough, we'll never be good enough: we need God's salvation!
I need to remember that, when I get overwhelmed emotionally. And instead of spiraling down into sin (slandering the Church, who is the chosen Bride of Christ is definitely sin), I need to do what David did, when injustice and oppression weighed him down. He looked to God for justice: " O righteous God, who searches minds and hearts, bring to an end the violence of the wicked and make the righteous secure." -Psalm 7:9
Trusting God to avenge, to protect, and to sustain His children isn't always easy, but it liberates us from the impotence of self-sufficiency, and unshackles our hearts to pray and love the same way that Christ did - He will not fail, and He is enough!
~keep on steady there, pilgrim
"My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense--Jesus Christ, the Righteous One." - 1 John 2:1
