Feeling, Knowing, and Believing

Our world is changing.  At an ever-increasing pace, these changes are impacting family and societal relationships, value of our currency, health care, education, employment, and constitutional rights.  All of these can impact our emotional, rational, and spiritual sense of well-being and our outlook on the future.  On any given day or even hour of the day, if we are asked how we are doing, we might choose a different emoji to describe our feelings.

Complexity of issues, sheer volume of information, and politically biased reporting make it more and more challenging to stay accurately informed.  Rational thinking skills and wise decision-making based on objective reporting of information are becoming more and more critical—and harder to find.  In this article, we consider some challenges we face and some factors to consider in order to navigate them wisely. 

To begin, let’s say that someone asks us a question.  There are several ways we might respond:

(1)   “I feel ….”

(2)   “I think ….”

(3) “I believe ….”

When someone asks us how we are feeling, we typically reply with #1, “I feel….”  Responses #2 and #3 are how we might begin to share our opinion or a faith-based answer, respectively.  Let’s consider Response #1 first.

Emotional Responses
Our “feelings” are an important part of our self-awareness and our physical and emotional health.  Our physical and emotional health require that we maintain a relationship with at least one person; or if necessary, with pet animal.  We are strengthened and encouraged through face-to-face communication with others or through letters, phone calls, and social media.  

Many of us have pressed “smiley face” stickers on our letters to convey a wordless message of encouragement.  Now that we have cell phone apps, we can digitally insert our choice of emojis along with our text messages and e-mails to communicate briefly how we are “feeling” about something in a wordless fashion.

Health professionals routinely ask their patients how they feel before or after a medical procedure.  Recognizing the difficulty that some patients have in expressing how much pain they actually “feel,” medical facilities often post a “pain scale” consisting of cartoon faces ranging from very distraught (“worst pain imaginable”) to a smiling face (“no pain”).  Health care professionals and all of us need to be aware that a person’s “feelings” have roots that go deeper than physical pain and reach into our emotional and spiritual state.

For many of us, it is easier to describe “how we feel” when someone asks us about our physical pain than when they ask “how we feel about our pain.”  How we feel about joint-replacement surgery during recovery is affected by both the severity of our physical pain and by the degree of our concern about whether we will ever recover.  Some people recover very quickly and have a positive outlook all the way through their pain and physical therapy.  Others struggle with both the physical pain and the related fear it causes.  Why is this?  The truth is, how we see our condition at a given time depends on our physical condition (1, “how we feel”) and our frame of mind (2, “how we think about” our situation.  The differences in how different people respond to similar situations also depends on how they “choose to think” about their situation.

Rational, Faith-Grounded Responses
Dr. Caroline Leaf, a communication pathologist and audiologist has conducted research for years in the field of cognitive neuroscience.  She believes that God created our minds in His image and has given us the free will to choose “how we will think” and react to our circumstances.  Therefore, Dr. Leaf has based her research on God’s revelation in Scriptures.  In Romans 12: 2, God commands us to be transformed by the renewing of your mind, and in Deuteronomy 30: 19, God lovingly invites us to choose life in order that you may live….

Dr. Leaf integrates this Scriptural principle with neuroscience in her book entitled Switch on Your Brain (Baker Books, 2013).  She writes,

Free will and choice are real, spiritual, and scientific facts. Your mind (soul) has one foot in the door of the spirit and one foot in the door of the body; you can change your brain with your mind and essentially renew your mind.

The author cites scientific research pointing to a cause-and-effect relationship between “what we believe” (Response #3 above) about God and our capacity to overcome challenges to physical health. 

As we have cited in a March 22, 2020 Oikonomia article, Dr. Leaf describes a University of Miami study of patients being treated for (Human Immunodeficiency Virus).  The researchers concluded that the most significant factor affecting healing in HIV-infected patients “was their choice to believe in a benevolent and loving God.”  These kinds of scientific findings emphasize the important link between “how we think” (2), how we “choose to think,” and “what we believe” (3).  [Note:  We also recognize that in the eternal span of time before each of us came into being as creatures in God’s image, capable of making choices, He chose us in Him (Christ) before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him.  In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will…(Ephesians 1: 4-5). The "Doctrine of Election" is a subject for another time, but those who wish to study the subject can begin HERE with a resource by Dr. John MacArthur.]

Although feeling, thinking, and believing are interconnected, “feeling” is heavily based on our physical senses; whereas, “thinking and believing” are heavily based on our rational ability, our faith, and our worldview that forms through our experience and learning.

How would you respond if someone were to ask you, “Do you believe there is a God?”   Which of the following would your choose to begin your response:
(1) “I feel ….”
(2) “I think ….”
(3) “I believe ….”

Clearly, our response to “the God question” cannot be based solely upon “what we feel” or “what we think.”  Unless we claim to be God, we have no capacity to claim whether or not God exists.  However, it appears that more and more people are presuming to take the place of God when they deny the existence of objective truth.  The term objective truth applies to a proposition that is considered true no matter what we believe to be the case.

Worldview by "Cut-and-Paste"
We have amassed great knowledge, yet increasing numbers of people question whether objective truth even exists.  This trend is supported by a recent study.

Based on a survey of 2,000 adult Americans (1,000 by phone; 1,000 online) taken in February, 2021 by George Barna, over half (54%) embrace the postmodern idea that all truth is subjective and there are no moral absolutes.  Barna concludes (emphasis added), “We’re just at a place in our country’s history now where that’s the default view.  Most people would say all truth is subjective and there’s no kind of objective truth based on an external standard.  They would say they’re the standard that determines what truth is.”

Barna’s survey, conducted through the Cultural Research Center at Arizona Christian University, offered a series of questions designed to determine the personal worldview of each respondent.  The results, reported in the American Worldview Inventory 2021, are very disturbing, not because of the views expressed but because the views were not based on well informed and coherent thinking.

Based on the respondents’ answers to the questions, only 6% were identified as truly holding to a “biblical worldview.”  Given this low percentage, it is at first puzzling that the biblical worldview was “the most prolific of the seven worldviews tested.”  Another approximately 6% of respondents were scattered among six other worldviews with no more than 2% qualifying to be assigned to any one of the six particular worldviews (see table).   What about the remaining 88% of respondents?

Instead of “developing an internally consistent and philosophically coherent perspective on life,” 88% of Americans are adopting points of view or actions that feel comfortable or seem most convenient” – i.e. using a cut-and-paste approach to making sense of, and responding to life.”   As a result, most Americans who claim adherence to a given belief system are insufficiently developed in both their intellectual understanding and in their behavior and lifestyle to qualify them as being true representatives” of that particular worldview.  For example, 9% of respondents “have a moderately strong set of beliefs and behaviors related to Marxism, Eastern Mysticism, or Nihilism, but “an insufficient breadth of such beliefs and behaviors to qualify as being a true representative of any of those worldviews.”

Feelings Rationally Grounded
Returning to our range of responses, feeling, thinking, and believing, we can explain at least one cause of the troubling trend detected by George Barna’s 2021 worldview inventory; namely, emotion-driven reactions and decisions are replacing those based on careful exercise of critical reasoning.  At the very time when our culture faces both great societal challenges and great tools for addressing these challenges, we seem least prepared to respond emotionally, rationally, and spiritually.

The table below lists seven major societal issues followed by a brief statement we might commonly hear in the media or in conversation.  Notice the prominence of an emotional component in the responses.  However, even though compassion and empathy are important qualities we ought to express toward those who are struggling, these qualities must be guided by rational and moral policies if we are going to solve these problems.

Each of these societal concerns have grown out of a history of what many believe are deviations from God’s commands revealed in the Bible.  The Old Testament, in Exodus 20, reveals how God gave His chosen people, the Israelites, the Ten Commandments, or the ten “Thou shalt not’s.”  God’s purpose was not to “steal their joy” but to give them a moral foundation for a society that would protect them from evil and help them become a “shining city on a hill” for the rest of the world to see and want to copy.   To the extent that Israel followed these commands, they prospered.  But deviations from these spiritual laws gradually caused the Jewish nation to lose their godly distinctions and eventually to be exiled by pagan nations.

Out of His mercy in order to redeem His people Israel, God came in the incarnate form of His Son, Jesus Christ.   Jesus came not to replace the Law but to fulfill the Law through His sinless life, atoning death on the Cross, and resurrection in victory over death that whoever believes in Him as their Savior from sin “should not perish but have everlasting life (John 3: 16).”  Jesus added,

For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.  He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.  This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil (John 3: 17-19). 

God has already come to us with objective truth claims in the Bible that He is the Creator, His creation reveals His power and nature, and that it is so obvious that we are without excuse if we deny it (Romans 1: 20).  The Apostle Paul elaborates about how the tendency of mankind has been to reject and suppress God’s truth (Romans 1: 18).  Those who reject God’s truth, will fall prey to accepting nonsense and be morally and spiritually corrupted to the core of their lives.  Paul described this awful result in Romans 1: 21-23:

For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened.  Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.

The rest of Romans 1 reveals the tragic downward path of those who reject God’s authority and absolute truth.  They are left to live in the darkness of moral relativism in which “truth” is what each individual deems it to be.  Returning to the seven (7) commonly heard statements above we can see how each cultural problem results from a deviation from the moral standards given in Scripture.  Each statement is also rooted in one or more misconceptions expressed by a person who has rejected or is ignorant of God’s moral and ethical principles.  In each of the seven, we briefly point out how the problem can be corrected by addressing the deviation from God’s ideal.  However, in no way do we want to imply that the solutions are simple.

Summary: Feeling, Thinking, Believing
In summary, each of us have physical, emotional, rational, and spiritual dimension to our lives.  All of these are interrelated components of our personality; but by itself, each is limited as a way of knowing and judging truth and reality.  We may answer a question about “how we feel” in words, or by our facial expression, or by pointing to a cartoon face or an emoji.   However, to answer questions related to “how we feel about” or “how we choose to react” to our situation, we must draw more heavily upon our rational and spiritual components.  We must be aware of our worldview and what we are basing our reasoning upon.   Recall Barna’s statistics on poorly grounded worldviews?

Thinking carelessly and communicating with tweets and emojis will not be adequate.  And problems in family, church, community, and government resulting from rejection of God’s revealed wisdom in the Bible will certainly not be solved by atheistic, humanistic approaches.  First Corinthians 2: 14 states, the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

The proper function of family, church, school, private corporations, and government depends upon documents such as the U.S. Constitution as well as various bylaws, legal codes, and covenants, all written in words in a rational manner.  Most of these in turn, rest upon the objective revelation of the Bible concerning the nature of man.  Due to our tendency to lust for power, there is a need to avoid the concentration of power and its corrupting influence, and to incorporate ways to hold individuals morally and spiritually accountable. 

God’s Word makes clear that ultimate reality is not this physical, temporary universe which we can see, hear, touch, taste and smell.  We can only discern spiritual reality when we submit to the Word of God and His Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 2: 13) to renew our minds (Romans 12: 2) and teach us to discern spiritual truth (John 14: 26).  Then, the Peace of God will replace our anxious feelings, and His love and care will uphold us for the challenges we face.

We hope this article will help you toward better discernment of issues in our world through proper exercise of your capacities for feeling, knowing, and believing.  As always, we welcome your “Comments” using the link below; or, please write privately to silviusj@gmail.com.  You may want to express how you feel, or what you think about this article, and share what you believe and why. 

Compelled by Christ’s Love for a Cousin

I know a man in Christ who is mourning the loss of his beloved cousin. He was several years younger than her.  They had grown up together on neighboring farms managed jointly by their fathers.  His father tried to lead his family on a Christ-centered foundation; but her father gave little or no effort toward leading his family to faith in Christ.  As they entered adulthood, their communication ceased except for rare conversations at family gatherings.  These brief encounters revealed that the girl he had once known had become hardened, saddened, and without a God-centered source of hope and joy.

Then, three years ago, the two cousins reestablished more frequent communication when he initiated regular phone conversations and sent cards and letters.  This year, during the month of August, she mourned the death of a man with whom she had lived for over 40 years.  During her mourning, she granted her cousin a visit to her home, and she received his sympathy and comfort.  She listened politely as he humbly spoke of God’s unfailing grace and love that is available to all who open their hearts to Him.  He encouraged her to establish a daily routine of rest, good nutrition, and regular reading about God’s love and comfort found in the Bible he had given her.  He remembered emphasizing the theme, “Hope in God because He cares for you.”

She lived barely two months after the loss of her partner.  Aside from occasional contact with her neighbor, it appears that her only close companion was her dog.

All of us experience the loss of loved ones through death.  But, this man that I know in Christ remained deeply concerned about something that was missing in his cousin’s life--something that would likely determine her eternal destiny.  What was it?  And why was he so deeply concerned?  Finally, how could this man be so sure that his cousin would not have gone to heaven when she died?  What follows is my effort to answer these questions based on what I learned from the man that I know in Christ.

What Must We Do to Be Saved?

“Why,” I asked him, “are you so concerned about the eternal destiny of your cousin?”  He reached for his Bible and asked me if I would agree that the Bible is God’s inspired revelation of Truth to mankind.  I nodded “Yes.” Then, he read the Bible’s own self-declaration of its authority:  …All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives.  It corrects us when we are wrong and trains us for a life that has God’s approval  (2 Timothy 3: 16, New Living Translation, and God’s Word Translation).

Knowing that we agreed on the authority of Scripture, he then referred me to 2 Corinthians 5:1 which states, …if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.  He explained that each of us has a soul, representing our personality which resides within our physical body, or “house.”  According to this verse, when we die, our soul leaves the “house” which then decays (“is torn down”).  With an expression of sadness, he explained that his cousin’s neighbor had found her dead in her home.  Yet, according to Scripture, her “person” had already departed at her death; only her body was found.  According to Hebrews 9: 27, God’s judgment will decide her eternal destiny-- And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment.

I responded to his mention of “judgment” with a shiver that he must have sensed.  He reminded me that God does not send anyone to Hell.  People choose this place.  Indeed, God is not willing that any should perish (be separated from God), but that all should come to repentance (turning from our sin and living in agreement with God’s Word) (2 Peter 3: 9).   Then, we read Romans 6: 23:  For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.  We agreed that each person is responsible to accept God’s gift.  In other words, God desires that we “choose Life” (Deuteronomy 30:19). 

Next, he referred me to Romans 10: 9-10 (emphasis mine) which explains how a person responds through faith to God’s transforming power, resulting in His righteousness (approved standing before God) and salvation from our sin:

 …that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.

The man I know in Christ then explained that if his cousin had confessed that she is a sinner in need of a Savior and accepted the free gift of God provided through Christ, God would see her as one who is clothed in the righteousness of the sinless Christ Who died in her place on the cross.  He smiled as he summarized this Gospel (“God’s good news”) of Christ as if there were a ray of hope that she may have accepted God’s gift.  Then, his sadness returned and I wondered again how he could be so deeply concerned about her eternal destiny?

Compelled by Christ’s Love

In a busy world where so many things compete for our attention, this man I know in Christ seemed almost fanatical to express so much concern about “the hereafter.”  Why was he so compelled to share the Gospel of God’s love with his cousin?  My answer wasn’t long in coming as he opened his Bible to Luke 16: 19-31.  There, Jesus recounts the story of two men, one rich the other poor.  Both men died and their souls were transported to very different places.  The rich man ended up in Hades, not because he was rich but because he had rejected God during his life on Earth.  There Jesus described him as being “in torment… [and] in agony in this place of flame” (v. 23, 24).  The poor man, named Lazarus, a man of faith in God, “died and was carried away by the angels to Abraham's bosom” (v. 22).  There, Lazarus was “being comforted” (v. 25).

In this unusual account, Jesus Christ, the God of Eternity, reveals to us a partial view of the reality of life after physical death.  First, we learn that our eternal destiny depends upon how we respond to God’s gift of salvation while on Earth.  Second, we learn that we do not sleep or cease to exist after death.  Instead, the souls of those who have died physically are very much alive and able to experience their surroundings, whether in a place of torment or with God and other people of faith.  When they die, the unrighteous--those who have rejected God’s gift of righteousness--will be separated from the righteous by a great chasm fixed, so that those who wish to come over from here to you will not be able, and that none may cross over from there to us (Luke 16: 26).

The man I know in Christ was now teaching me about life after death, and he now had my rapt attention. There was one more powerful truth that we can glean from Christ’s revelation.  In Luke 16: 27-31, Jesus reveals that the rich man in torment asks that Lazarus be sent to warn his family of the impending judgment and eternal torment awaiting them if they do not respond to the message of the God’s love and salvation.  According to the words of Abraham, God has made every provision through His revelation in creation and in Scripture so that those who reject His Gift of righteousness while living on Earth are without excuse when they die (see also Romans 1: 16-24).  Yet, according to this account many will reject these revelations of truth and will remain unbelieving even if someone were to die and be resurrected from the dead.  In fact, many remained unbelieving even after watching Jesus raise another man named Lazarus from the dead (John 11); and then, Jesus Himself was resurrected from the dead (Luke 24:6).

I now realized exactly why this man had been so compelled to share the good news of Christ with his cousin and others in the family.  As if to further inoculate me with his sense of urgency about those yet living who have been rejecting God’s call to them, he invited me to read more of the Apostle Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians 5.  This time, in verses 10-11, I read,

For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.  Therefore, since we know what it means to fear of the Lord, we persuade men…

We continued reading the rest of 2 Corinthians 5, including verse 14-15 which states that …the love of Christ compels us…so that those who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf.  Upon hearing this verse, I begin to feel within my own heart the power of Christ’s love lifting me out of my self-centeredness to share this man’s concern for lost souls.  I was especially challenged by the way Paul’s words in verses 20-21 (emphasis mine) placed my sense of urgency into a call to action (emphasis mine):

Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.  He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

After a period of time to think about these Scriptures, I felt a calm assurance in my conscience that it was my faith in Christ, not my own good works that had made me acceptable in God’s eyes.  But also I experienced reverent fear of God’s power and His perfect justice that decides the fate of every person.  How could I not share in the passion, the compulsion, and the same sense of urgency that this man I know in Christ has shown for others? How could I not help but want my loved ones and friends to know the joy of walking with Christ daily and being assured He will never leave us nor forsake us (Hebrews 13: 5), even when we walk through the valley of the shadow of death (Psalm 23: 4).

Not Willing That Anyone Should Perish

I sat with the man I know in Christ for awhile; neither of us spoke.  Then, his face beamed with an expression of hope as he turned and began to share a new insight.  Could it be that his cousin had avoided the place of eternal torment.  Maybe she is now in the presence of Christ.  We both believed that as long as a person responds to God’s invitation for salvation before death comes, they can be saved.  As the Apostle Paul writes, [God] saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit…(Titus 3: 5). 

If we are saved, not by works, but by faith, then a life-long rejecter of God’s love and mercy can be saved if they admit their need of forgiveness even in the final minutes of their life?   While pondering this amazing truth, we each remembered an important conversation among three men who had been crucified by the Romans as common criminals Luke 23: 39-43). 

Jesus Christ and two criminals had been sentenced to death.  According to Luke, each man was nailed to a wooden cross where they suffered horribly.  One of the criminals was rudely mocking Jesus.  But the other criminal rebuked the abuser saying, "Do you not even fear God?”  Then, he reminded him that they both deserved to die for their crimes, but Jesus was innocent.  After saying this, the repentant criminal turned painfully to look at Jesus and said, “Jesus, remember me when You come in Your kingdom!"  And Jesus replied, "Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise."

How amazing is the love and grace of God through Christ that would welcome this criminal in the final minutes of his life to be with Him in paradise for eternity.  Neither criminal had performed any works to merit Eternal Life.  But one of the criminals had looked to the cross of Christ, repented of his sin, and asked Jesus to take him with Him to Paradise.  This conversation between Jesus and a criminal from their crucifixion crosses underscores the biblical claim that God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance (2 Peter 3: 9).   Truly, God is not willing.  But, before I can be saved I must be willing—willing to (1) agree with God that “I am a sinner,” (2) be willing to repent (turn from a life of sin), (3) believe that the death and resurrection of Christ occurred in order to take away my sin, and (4) invite Christ to come into my life and control my life through His Holy Spirit.

One truth had become very clear to me and to this man I know in Christ:  If his cousin had at some point before her death been willing to accept by faith God’s gift of Eternal Life, then we could be sure she was now with Jesus in Paradise.  The decision had been hers to make. 

But, on the other hand, had the God done His part to make His Good News clear to this dear cousin?  I watched his face become very somber as he related to me how he had explained God’s love to her in spoken word and through his cards and letters.  In one phone conversation, after his cousin’s partner had been diagnosed with cancer, his cousin’s partner asked him, “Where is your God when I need Him?”  This angry plea became an open door for the man I know in Christ to graciously respond that, “Many people in pain like yours have asked this same question.” Rather than speak at length on the phone to this angry man, he excused himself and later wrote a letter to both his cousin and her suffering partner that included the following words:

My answer to “Where is God when you need Him?” is found in God’s Word, the Bible.  Psalm 145, verses 18 and 19 tells us,

The LORD is near to all who call upon Him,
To all who call upon Him in truth.
He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him;
He will also hear their cry and will save them.

God is very near and knows all about us.   God’s will is that we “call upon Him in truth.”  God’s first concern for us is not in keeping rules like going to church.  Instead, we develop a relationship with God by spending time with Him (worshipping and learning more about Him from His Scriptures).

But, God will not badger us.  He has revealed Himself through creation, in the Bible, through Jesus, and through the love and concern of other people.  It is up to us to “let him into our lives.”  You must have heard this before, but in Revelation 3: 20 we read Jesus saying,

'Behold, I stand at the door and knock;
if anyone hears My voice and opens the door,
I will come in to him and will dine with him,
and he with Me.

God is very near, and His Son, Jesus is knocking at the door of our lives.  One artist painted the scene as he imagined it.   Notice in the painting, there is no knob on the door!  God waits for us to open the door of our lives.  He expects us to think for ourselves.  When we are hurting we can cry out to Him….”Where were you God when I needed you?”  God will not break when we shout at Him.

The man I know in Christ explained that he had closed his letter with a short invitation to his cousin and her partner to talk more about this with him.  He also included a tiny “Personal Bible” which provides an excellent sequence of Scripture verses on the nature of man, God’s love for man, and man’s sin and need of a Savior. 

The man that I know in Christ had given his cousin and her partner all of the information needed to understand and respond to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Indeed, his zeal and passion to reach the soul of his cousin in a loving way seems to have been driven by nothing less than the power of God, making him an ambassador for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through him as he pleaded to his cousin on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.

Was his beloved cousin, by an act of believing faith in Christ, set free from the sin and bondage of her troubled life on Earth to find a freedom in Christ she had never known?  Or, did she continue to reject the love and mercy of God all the way to the end of her physical life?  Regardless of the answers to these questions, the man I know in Christ now rest assured on two important truths.  First, he knows that God had used him at least in part to make His loving appeal to this cousin.  And second, he was assured by his faith that God is good and just, and is unwilling that any should perish.

How About You?
You may have read this article and are left with a sense of confusion, uncertainty, and even fear.  If you have never encountered the “Good News” or Gospel, let me help.   The “Good News” is summarized in an outline called “Steps to Peace with God” which explains God’s love, our predicament (sin and separation from God), what Jesus has done to address our predicament, and what you can do by faith to receive God’s righteousness (right standing with a Holy God).  If you have additional questions or comments, I’d love to hear from you.  Just post a “Comment” below or e-mail me at silviusj@cedarville.edu

Hearing the Voice of Jesus –2: When Suffering Comes

My previous article, Hearing the Voice of Jesus, pictured God as the One who continually pursues us, seeking relationship with us.  His voice calls to us out of His great love expressed through Jesus Christ and His inspired Word.  Perhaps surprisingly, we can best discern God’s voice and receive the outpouring of His love through the Holy Spirit when we are in the midst of trials and suffering.  Those who have experienced God’s love and comfort in their suffering are able to comfort others in trials with this same comfort (2 Corinthians 1: 3-4).  Little did I know while writing this previous article in September that God was preparing me to learn the truth of it through my own traumatic experience on October 8.  What follows is my account of this experience.  Remember that my perspective from “here on the ground”  is flawed and limited compared to God’s perspective.  May He alone be glorified as you read.

Thursday, October 5
Today, Abby and I were scheduled to be chaperones for our granddaughter, Della Rose, and her classmates during their visit to nearby Ramseyer Pumpkin Farm.  However, the rainy weather caused rescheduling of the event; and produced a disappointed granddaughter and grandma.  To brighten our morning, I suggested to Abby that we go out for breakfast at Bob Evans.  As we walked toward the register to pay our bill, I noticed a familiar face in a nearby booth and remember thinking that I had seen this gentleman at our church.  I made a mental note and thought no more of this passing encounter.  In the afternoon, we drove to Akron to attend the cross country meet of our older granddaughter, Kiara.  Afterwards, we celebrated her personal best time with her and her family.  While in Akron, we stopped to visit my friend, Bill, who had just had right hip replacement surgery that afternoon.  He was still in recovery so we left a card for him and drove home to Wooster.

Saturday, October 7
I began this crisp, autumn morning with an encouraging time of fellowship over a warm breakfast with my Christian brother, Brad.  Then, while Abby was running her errands, I returned to Akron to visit my friend, Bill, now in his third day of recovery from hip surgery.  He was in good spirits and was managing his pain very well.  After our brief conversation, I prayed with Bill and his wife, and then left the hospital.  As I was leaving, I sensed that God’s Spirit was pressing me to take account of the thoughts and intentions of my heart for visiting Bill.  This was not the first time that I was humbled about my efforts to encourage a friend in the midst of pain and suffering.  Taking a personal stock in this area usually centers around three basic questions, each probing successively deeper into my faith and its outworking in my life.

The primary question that pressed upon my mind as I walked from Bill’s room was, How real is your empathy and compassion toward Bill?  I had to acknowledge immediately that my level of empathy was limited by the degree to which I had been “walking in Bill’s shoes.”  After all, how could I actually see life through the eyes and body of a man who had experienced years of pain while walking with an arthritic hip and then endured the pain of a hip replacement?  Because of my limited empathy, my compassion, or the depth of my desire to help my friend was also limited to visiting him and attempting to encourage him.  Having not been involved in farming since my boyhood, I was limited in my ability to assist those people who had volunteered to harvest Bill’s crops and care for his livestock.

How can we empathize with and extend compassion
to loved ones without having "walked in their shoes?"

What concerned me most as I reflected on my efforts in recent years to empathize and encourage friends and family members was the fact that the blessing of good health throughout my life had spared me of physical pain and suffering.  I simply could not identify with friends and family in times of their suffering.  Instead, I tried to encourage them with words like, “God is good and faithful.  He will bring you through this because He loves you and you can trust Him.”  I would also thank them for showing me how to endure pain and suffering as an example for me when I face a similar trial in the future.

My second question also stems from my good health and lack of experience with pain and suffering.  The voice inside asked me, John, how genuine is your faith?  Sure, I had much experience pointing suffering family members and friends to God as a source of hope and healing.  But, how did I know how strong my faith would be when my time came to face pain and suffering?  My answer has to be, “I do not know if my faith in God will remain strong.”

Finally, the third question that has pressed upon my mind over the years is the most challenging of all—How do you know that God will be faithful when you need Him most?  Surely, I have known God’s presence and comfort during times of decision, loss, loneliness, conflict in relationships, and emotional stress.  But, would I know assuredly that God had not forsaken me when I encountered my own suffering and pain?  Little did I know that God was already orchestrating a situation that would eventually provide me with answers to all three of my questions.

Sunday, October 8
Abby and I were blessed to attend our 8:30 am Sunday School class at West Hill Baptist Church, taught by Pastor Eric Fairhurst.  Our lesson was from Luke 21 which records the words of Jesus as He described the signs and future events that would occur in and around Jerusalem and beyond.  We were challenged to be alert “when these things begin to take place.”  Then, in our traditional worship service, Pastor Dan Wingate presented a message from Colossians 3: 12-17 entitled, “Putting on the Best Clothing.”  Verse 12 introduces a list of important Christian virtues and character traits for Christ-followers to “put on” as we yield to the Holy Spirit’s work in our lives:  So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion…etc.

That morning, I did not immediately connect a biblical text beginning with the subject of compassion to my own question about the genuineness of my compassion following my hospital visit yesterday.  However, I was soon to be on the receiving end of compassion in an unexpected way.

After the service, we greeted some friends, then walked together into the church parking lot. As I scanned the lot to locate our Tacoma, I spotted the same gentleman that I had recognized in Bob Evans on Thursday.  I raised my hand to wave him to a stop.  We greeted one another and exchanged names while remembering that we had just crossed paths in Bob Evans three days earlier.  Our conversation was then interrupted by a forceful blow on my left side which was the first of several painful impacts I felt, resulting in my body being either thrown to the ground; or, more likely, twisted so that my right hip was thrown against the side of my friends car before I landed on my left side on the ground.

Needless to say, my viewpoint immediately changed.  While lying helpless in a fetal position, unable to move, I could only look up.  Whereas, moments before I had viewed my church family from my usual position of height and strength, I was now forced to look up at them in helpless dependence.  My view was filled with the concerned faces of my church family gathering to help and console me.  The dear lady whose car had struck me was soon at my shoulder with profuse apologies.  Another person cradled my head, while yet another asked if I could move.  I remained conscious but could not move my right leg.  While someone dialed 911, another man began to lead in a prayer for God’s provision.  As I looked up at a sea of loving faces, a friend brought a green blanket to support my head, and others had gathered around Abby to pray.

Within minutes, the ambulance arrived and I was gently wrapped and transported to the ER of Wooster Community Hospital.  Soon Abby arrived, accompanied by two brothers and two sisters in Christ from our church.  Again, I felt God’s comfort and guidance through the presence of Abby and these dear friends.  They were also very helpful in our choice of a surgeon.

That afternoon, my X-rays indicated that my hip was shattered and that I would need a total right hip replacement.  The operation was performed by the skillful hands of a surgeon who was also a man of faith. I was so richly encouraged when he took my hand and prayed with me at the end of our pre-op consultation. 

Looking confident, but supported by prayers
and resting in the unseen arms of God.

During the night and the next couple of days, I was made comfortable by medical staff who each served me with professionalism and compassion.  During this time, I sensed as never before the nearness of God—so comforted and strengthened by the faithful prayers of family, church family, and friends.  I believe God used these days of discomfort and dependence, and days of being weak while learning to become stronger, in order to provide the very experience I so greatly needed and wanted--experience I had missed as the one usually standing above others who experienced pain and dependence.

The doctor, nurses, and aides kept track of my pain level and encouraged me not to shirk on taking Oxycodone so that I would not “get behind” in managing the pain.  Because pain has been such an infrequent visitor in my life, I did not want to insulate myself too much from it.  Thankfully, an occasional Tylenol was enough to moderate my pain.  Though I felt weak and physically dependent, I remembered the words of Gordon T. Smith that had so interested me just a few weeks before.  Smith notes that it is when we accept and even embrace the experience of pain and suffering that we are most receptive to the outpouring of God’s wondrous, boundless love.  Though I am unworthy to compare my light brush with suffering to that of the Apostle Paul, I learned a new appreciation of his writing in Romans 5: 3-5 NASB (emphasis mine):

And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope;  and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts [ESV: “poured into our hearts”] through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

Reflections during Recovery:
Although I could have gone home on Tuesday, Abby and I agreed that I should spend a few days in the Transitional Care Unit to undergo some physical therapy and increase my readiness for life back home.  During these days of recovery, I revisited the three questions that had challenged me in years past and which had especially pressed upon me only days before my injury.  As I reflect on my own suffering and recovery, am beginning to understand more clearly the nature of sincere compassion, the genuineness of my own faith in God, and the faithfulness of Jesus, my Savior.

While lying on my back in absolute dependence upon medical staff and then during my transitional care, God was making me a more humble, open vessel to receive His loving compassion through the care of these dear servants.  I am now praying that the Father of mercies and God of all comfort Who comforts us in our affliction will make me into a better steward of His comfort and compassion so that I will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God (2 Corinthians 1: 3-4).  In short, it’s ultimately not about my compassion but my openness as a channel of God’s compassion.

Second, having never experienced serious pain and suffering, I used to wonder how my own faith in God would fare in the day it finally came.  My wondering ended on October 8.  Thanks to God’s grace as manifested in the many ways I have recounted above, my faith did not waver.  I do not make this claim because I felt the strong “flexing of the muscles” of my faith in my time of need.  Instead, my faltering faith was lifted up by the strong arms of God—loving arms that protected me bodily when I was struck on my left side, wrestled about, and dropped on my left side without a bruise—loving arms that worked though all the actions of my church family, and then the compassionate, medical care-givers.  Again, it’s ultimately not about “my faith” but God’s imparting of the gift of faith to me (Ephesians 2:  8).

Finally, I had no reason to question the faithfulness of my Savior, Jesus Christ.  Like the comforting, compassionate care that I remember receiving one morning from an aide who covered me with a freshly warmed blanket, so the loving arms and gentle voice of the Savior left me no doubt about His faithfulness and abiding presence.  Much more than feeling warm fuzziness, God’s manifest presence was made real as His Spirit spoke to me in words from Scripture—words that He brought freely into my consciousness from memory, such as Isaiah 41: 10: 

Do not fear, for I am with you;
Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you, surely I will help you,
Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.

Or, the words of Psalm 23  that I had read many times in the past, and heard in utterances from the quivering lips of family and friends as I stood at their bedside:

The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters.
He restores my soul.
He leads me in paths of righteousness
for his name’s sake.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil, for you are with me;
your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

Has my compassion become more sincere?  Is my faith stronger as a result of this trial?  Is my Savior faithful?  I thank God for helping me answer the first two questions by His resounding answer “Yes” to the third. 

In conclusion, I thank God for granting my injury and for demonstrating His faithfulness through it in the days that followed.  Through God’s gift of my injury, pain, and suffering, I am learning anew the blessing of His comfort and compassion—gifts from His vast sea of love and grace. Now,  I am recommitting myself to being a good steward of God’s gifts of love, compassion, and faith.  I pray that the aroma of Christ will be evident in my relationships with others—so that ultimately Christ is lifted up.  To God be the glory!

Shaping the Future of America

 

Last night another history-making announcement came to us when President Trump announced his nomination of Neil Gorsuch to fill the vacant position on the U.S. Supreme Court.  Thus begins what may be weeks or months of deliberation and bantering between those who approve and those who oppose his nomination.  

As I have thought about President Trump’s pick, I began to wonder if there are any points on which most supporters and opponents could agree.  Here is what I have come up with so far, and feel free to add or comment:

1.   Americans should agree that President Trump’s pick is really his attempt to keep his promise to voters who elected him to the presidency in November.  NOTE:  Those who still deny Trump’s legitimacy to hold the office of the presidency because he did not garner a majority of the popular vote should remember that he was legitimately elected according to the Constitution.

2.  Americans should not be surprised by the president’s nominee because Justice Gorsuch’s name was on Trump’s list of possible nominees which he provided early in the campaign.  Indeed, President Trump’s promise was to nominate a justice like the late Justice Antonin Scalia  who would interpret the Constitution and not legislate new law from the bench.

3.   Americans who take time to read up on the education and experience of Justice Gorsuch ought to agree that he is imminently qualified to serve on the High Court.  If you agree, you are joining the ranks of U.S. senators including Democratic senators Biden, Clinton, Schumer, Feinstein, and Obama who participated in a unanimous confirmation of Gorsuch to serve on the 10^th Circuit Court of Appeals, in 2006.

4.   Americans who have studied the history of our nation’s founding and who understand the importance, even the brilliance, of having a separation of powers among the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of the federal government, ought to agree that in recent years we have witnessed an erosion of the intended authority of the Supreme Court.  Justices of the High Court are supposed to objectively interpret the Constitution and not be swayed by personal preference or the will of the people.  Instead, our Founding Fathers intended that the will of the people be expressed through elected legislators and senators.   But in recent  years, liberal justices on the Supreme Court have viewed the Constitution as an evolving document that ought to be subject to the changing morality of American society.  Result: rulings from the Court have foisted moral and social changes upon American culture against the will of the majority of Americans.  These include rulings that affirmed the right of the mother to dismiss the rights of her unborn child through abortion (Roe v. Wade, 1973) and the ruling in 2015 that redefined marriage to include marriage between two individuals of the same gender (Obergefell v. Hodges).  In both cases, the Court decision left behind the muddy, stormy waters of division and angry protests across our land.

5.   Americans ought to agree that the notion of “legislating from the bench” is not always easy to define or detect.  While conservatives who usually support “legislating from the bench” generally define it as overriding the will of democratically elected representatives in the legislative and executive branches, Mark Bennett, Houston criminal defense lawyer and author of the blog, Defending People claims he has a more objective test when he writes:

The test for real judicial activism is this: absent judicial review, would the result have been different? This definition and this test have the virtue of not being in the eye of the beholder. Whether the courts have allowed the other branches to do what they want is easy to determine.

Bennett goes on to evaluate landmark Supreme Court cases such as Roe v. Wade and Dred Scott v. Sanford using his definition.   Although the tone of his 2009 blog article, “Legislating Policy from the Bench: Five Examples” was a bit harsh to me, I found it instructive, which leads me to my sixth (the number signifying “incomplete;” I know--and so is this analysis) and final point.

6.  Americans ought to agree that the U.S. Senate decision on whether or not to appoint Justice Neil Gorsuch to the U.S. Supreme Court will have major influence on the landscape of American culture.  We ought also to agree that this time of senate deliberation ought to be a time for serious study of both the man and the role he is being appointed to play in our justice system.  We all ought to ask, “What kind of America do we want for the future?”  Furthermore, those of us who believe in the sovereignty of God Who is the Author of all rights and all authority ought to commit to regular and reverent prayer.  

Personally, as I consider our desperate need for integrity in all of our halls of government, I must recognize that my own heart is deceitfully flawed (Jeremiah 17: 9), rebellious by default, and in need of constant reproof, correction, and training in righteousness through the Word of God (2 Timothy 3: 16) and the instruction of godly friends, teachers, and mentors (2 Timothy 2: 2). 

As we pray for wisdom for our leaders and for ourselves, what better place to go than to the Book of Proverbs.  Here is just one relevant sample from Proverbs 14: 33-35:

Wisdom rests in the heart of one who has understanding,
But in the hearts of fools it is made known.
Righteousness exalts a nation,
But sin is a disgrace to any people.
The king's favor is toward a servant who acts wisely,
But his anger is toward him who acts shamefully.

When I consider our need for wisdom as a nation of diverse ethnic groups and socioeconomic backgrounds, I want to try to empathize with those whose life is very different from mine; but who also seek representation in our great nation.  Here are some particular examples of those I want to remember and learn to possess more compassion toward:

1.    I want to remember those who are devastated because their presidential candidate did not win the November election and who are fearful of what their future holds. 

2.   I want to understand how many who feel forgotten in “the American dream” would see the need to change America into a society where they can have another chance at life, but possibly themselves forgetting that with rights come responsibilities to family, neighbor, and to God. 

3.   I want to try to empathize with the woman who has chosen to abort at least one child, or the father of that child, both of whom may bear a weight of guilt. 

4.  I want to love and encourage those who have never known the love of two parents, many of whom may be very confused about their sexuality either because they have not had mom and dad to love them into maturity or because they have been sexually abused.  

5.   I also want to understand more of the hate that weighs upon those who hate people of faith, including Christian leaders in our churches, schools, and government whom they blame for the guilt they bear.

In order to be more compassionate toward others and  “practice what I preach,” I must remember Micah 6: 8 (emphasis mine),

He [God[has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justice, to love kindness, And to walk humbly with your God?

How about You?  What about this article has helped you think more clearly about this momentous time?   Where do you disagree or wish to add your thoughts?   I’d love to read your responses—just  use the “Comment” box.

Stewards of Love and Compassion

Perhaps like you, I was surprised to learn of the emergence of Caitlyn Jenner as a trans-woman from the person we had known as Bruce Jenner, the decathlon winner in the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal.  The bold display of Caitlyn on the cover of Vanity Fair has challenged millions to think about men and women who experience a confused or transgender identity.  How should Christians respond to trans-women and trans-men?  How will we respond to transgendered persons who profess Christianity?

Bruce Jenner          Caitlyn Jenner

As a Christian, I have more questions than answers.  I am trying to refrain from forming an opinion of Caitlyn until I have read and studied more.  Therefore, I will not write much more on the subject at this time.  Instead, I will refer you to an article that has been very helpful to me—one I selfishly wish I could have written.

In his blog, Kingdom in the Midst, Marty Duren expresses godly wisdom that suggests he has been spending time with Jesus in the Word of God.  In “For God So Loved Caitlyn Jenner” Duren doesn’t pretend to have all the answers.  But, he points me in the right direction.  Looking in that direction, I can see Jesus looking with His holy, all-seeing eyes upon the multitudes, seeing every possible physical and spiritual condition—all of the “weights and besetting sin” (Hebrews 12: 1) that plague us, in 2015.  According to the Gospel of Mark, When Jesus went ashore, He saw a large crowd, and He felt compassion for them because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and He began to teach them many things (Mark 6: 34).

What did Jesus teach them?   I would like to have listened. Yet, I am thankful for the Gospel accounts that reveal His great heart of compassion toward sinners that He came to rescue.  Indeed, it was Jesus’ compassion from the outset (indeed, from Eternity past) that enabled Him to see the people as “sheep without a shepherd.”

Consistent with a biblical view of Christ, Marty Duren challenges me to exercise compassion toward my neighbor who struggles with gender identity or identity in so many other ways in a society in which boundaries have fallen and truth is relative.  But seeing my neighbors as sheep needing a shepherd is only the beginning.  What if they understand my compassionate approach as judgmental and condescending?  My only hope is to see myself in the mirror of God's Word which reveals my shortcomings.  There, I can realize the infinite gulf across which God reached to rescue me.  Then, in humility, perhaps I can embrace others who are no less in need of God’s salvation and grace than I?

If you choose not to read “For God So Loved Caitlyn Jenner,” consider at least reading Duren’s conclusion:

We have no option but to love those so affected, so afflicted and so decided. There are among the gender confused and the gender reassigned future children of God through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. Whatever it is Caitlyn Jenner seeks, no amount of surgery, hormones or editing of a Wikipedia page will bring it.  Joy comes from the One who made us to find joy in Himself.  For God so loved Caitlyn Jenner. And you.  And me.

Should Christians Just ‘Be Nice’--Or What?

Newsweek, January 2, 2015

Kurt Eichenwald has written a Newsweek cover story on the Bible--and on his personal view of Christians.  The article was met with a firestorm of objection, both because of his inaccurate claims regarding the authenticity of the Bible and because of his scathing criticism of Christians.  Eichenwald, a two-time winner of the George Polk Award and a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize, gave this description of Christians: 

They wave their Bibles at passersby, screaming their condemnations of homosexuals. They fall on their knees, worshipping at the base of granite monuments to the Ten Commandments while demanding prayer in school. They appeal to God to save America from their political opponents, mostly Democrats. They gather in football stadiums by the thousands to pray for the country’s salvation.

They are God’s frauds, cafeteria Christians who pick and choose which Bible verses they heed with less care than they exercise in selecting side orders for lunch. They are joined by religious rationalizers—fundamentalists who, unable to find Scripture supporting their biases and beliefs, twist phrases and modify translations to prove they are honoring the Bible’s word.

Michael J. Kruger has posted a 2-part critique of Eichenwald's article in his Canon Fodder blog, stating that the article: 
goes so far beyond the standard polemics, and is so egregiously mistaken about the Bible at so many places, that the magazine should seriously consider a public apology to Christians everywhere.

Al Mohler expresses his more general criticism of the Newsweek article in AlMohler.com:
Amazingly, Eichenwald claims some stance of objectivity. “Newsweek’s exploration here of the Bible’s history and meaning is not intended to advance a particular theology or debate the existence of God,” Eichenwald insists. “Rather, it is designed to shine a light on a book that has been abused by people who claim to revere it but don’t read it, in the process creating misery for others.”

But Eichenwald demonstrates absolutely no attempt to understand traditional Christian understandings of the Bible, nor ever to have spoken with the people he asserts “claim to revere [the Bible] but don’t read it.” What follows is a reckless rant against the Bible and Christians who claim to base their faith upon its teachings.

Kurt Eichenwald

What is most interesting is Eichenwald's reaction to the criticism on Twitter: https://twitter.com/kurteichenwald  For example,  Eichenwald tweets his definition of a Christian as a person

...who refuses all gifts for himself and welcomes all - gay, straight, prostitute, drug addict - without condemnation. THAT is Christianity.

The scribes and Pharisees brought a woman caught in the act of adultery and placed her as an object of scorn in front of Jesus; and they asked Him what ought to be done to her (John 8: 3-11).  Jesus did not tell them to dismiss the Old Testament law which called for the penalty of death by stoning.  Instead, He stooped down and wrote in the dust of the ground from which humans were created (Genesis 2: 7), perhaps reminding them of the commandments they had received through Moses.  Then, He invited those who were without sin to cast the first stone at the adulterous woman.  The Scriptures record the response of the Jewish leaders:

And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst (John 8: 9).

Jesus, now alone with the woman, asked her, Woman, where are your accusers?  Has no man condemned you. She replied, No man, Lord.  And, Jesus said to her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.

Jesus had shown compassion and mercy toward the woman who had been condemned to death.  But, we forget that He also showed compassion toward the Jewish leaders with stones in their hands ready to crush the woman to death.

Elsewhere, in Matthew 9, Jesus had just called Levi (Matthew) the tax collector to follow him as one of His twelve disciples.  Levi had responded by inviting Jesus to a party he had prepared for all of his friends—other tax collectors and people who were looked down upon by the Jewish leaders.  The Jewish leaders approached Jesus’ disciples and asked, Why is your Teacher eating with the tax collectors and sinners?  When Jesus heard this, He explained to them that

only those who are sick need a physician. But go and learn what this means: 'I DESIRE COMPASSION, AND NOT SACRIFICE,' for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.

As He had done with the Jewish leaders poised to stone the woman caught in adultery, so here His words are aimed right at the heart of those who would judge themselves sinless before God—i.e. “not needing a physician.” 

In these two accounts, Jesus reminds us that He did not come to do away with the laws of God for righteousness (righteous living), but rather to convict us of how far we have fallen short of God’s righteousness.  For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ (John 1: 17, emphasis mine).  God is calling us to righteous living, but the only way to this Life is through Christ Who became the sinless sacrificial lamb, dying in our place, taking upon Himself the sins of the world.

There are millions like Kurt Eichenwald all around us whose experience tells them that Christians are harsh and condemning.  Perhaps unknowingly, they are waiting for a Christ-like (Christ-ian) response.  Our place is to see them with the eyes of Jesus—eyes of compassion and mercy.  But the eyes of Jesus can be ours only if we remember that Jesus continually offers us what we also need--compassion, mercy, and forgiveness for our sins.  When we are harsh and condemning, we are just like the Jewish leaders with stones in their hands.  When we, like the Jewish leaders, remember our own debt of sin, we drop our stones, drop to our knees, repent of our sin, and rely on the Spirit of our Savior to show us how to relate to sinners like us with God’s winsome love and compassion. 

I conclude with a reminder for all of us sinners from the response of Elyse Fitzpatrick in an interview with Marvin Olasky (“Transparent Sinner”,WORLD Magazine, October 18, 2014)

OLASKY:  The prostitutes knew they needed help. Zacchaeus knew.
FITZPATRICK:  And Matthew knew. But the Pharisees didn’t know, and the thing that guaranteed Christ was going to die on the cross was His love for sinners, because the Pharisees didn’t think they were part of that group. Yes, of course, we might sin somewhat if we take too many steps on a certain day, but we’re not really sinners. The thing that drove them to crucify Him, of course in God’s sovereignty, was that He didn’t pander to their religion. He told him their religion was the very thing that kept them from God. So we have to not only repent of our badness (I didn’t make this up) but also our goodness. There is nothing more difficult to accept than the truth that you bring nothing to the table except your sin, and He has to bring everything else. 

Kurt Eichenwald calls for Christians to be gracious--and he is right.  But he seems unaware that he too needs a physician—one who can graciously point out his infection (his sin nature) and lead him to the only cure--repentance and acceptance of the cleansing blood of Christ. No tally of "good works" or self-justification on the part of any of us will suffice.  Nor are Christians who try to "be nice" around unbelieving sinners really "being nice."  It's good for physicians to have a good "bedside manner" but it may be deadly if they fail to express clearly the patient's condition and provide a plan of action.  Ultimately, in mission and in medicine, being honest is better than "being nice" or "being liked."