Michael Kelly's most recent post in FORWARD PROGRESS is a must read for all of us on a discipleship journey. - STEVE
The New Testament calls us to a different kind of ethic – it’s a new
kind of obedience. It’s not one measured in adherence to a code, but an
obedience that’s through and through – not just doing right, but being
right. Not just acting with love, but truly loving. Not just willingly
acting but feeling it as well. But in the middle of all of these
demands, there is one that isn’t quite as exciting:
Keep going.
Don’t give up.
Persevere to the end.
Or, as Journey might put it, don’t stop believin’:
“Therefore, since we also have such a large cloud of witnesses
surrounding us, let us lay aside every weight and the sin that so easily
ensnares us. Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us…”
Hebrews 12:1
“If we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he also will deny us…” 2 Timothy 2:12
“Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various
kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces
steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may
be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” James 1:2-4
“But the one who endures to the end will be saved.” Matthew 24:13
During those days, these verses were read largely in the context of
persecuted believers, or in the prediction of persecution to come. Faith
was or would be challenged with loss, and in light of the cost, many
would abandon their confession. They would reject what they believed.
They would give up and stop running the race of faith.
But I don’t currently live in a persecuted state, and I’m not often
tempted to give up my beliefs based on threats of property seizure,
social loss, or outright violence. Likely, if you’re reading this, you
might not either. But the exhortations to remain in the faith are still
there. It seems like a good time, then, for me (and others who live in
relative freedom like me) to ask the question of our own selves:
If not persecution, what will make us give up our faith?
You could probably point to many things, so here’s one more to throw
into the mix: materialism. Greed. Prosperity. This is what might make us
give up our faith. To understand why, though, you have to dig in a bit
to the basis of Christianity, and then how prosperity puts a challenge
to it.
Christianity is, from the beginning, a humiliating religion. To come
to Christ, you can be full of all kinds of sin. But the one thing that
you cannot be full of is pride. That’s because the message of the
Christianity is a self-debasing one – you are dead in your sin, and you
can’t ultimately help yourself out of that condition. You are a person
in the worst kind of need.
Understanding that helps us see why prosperity might be the thing in
prosperous nations of the world that might most make us abandon our
faith. With money comes misplaced security. With money comes misplaced
confidence. With money comes the altered sense of self that makes us
forget or neglect why we came to the cross in the first place.
Money makes us forget our need of God, and with that forgetfulness comes the abandonment of the gospel.
So be careful, all of us who are rich. Be careful that your money
does not replace your God. Be careful that your money does not keep you
from believing.
