Tears of Engagement

I find myself in tears after a phone call to my office from a young mother who can’t afford diapers for her baby because Daddy decided it was more important to have ‘fun’ than to take care of his child.  Driving down the street in our little town, I see teenage kids shuffling along, trying hard to look cool, and I cry for  them because I know that they find the world a scary place these days.  Reading about 2 boys in an Ohio town who decided a dead-drunk girl was just a toy for their gratification makes me cry – for her, for them.  The empire-building that continues in this world – the rich exploiting and oppressing the poor – makes me cry, too.  Yes, I cry about myself, too, when I realize how easily I am distracted by some trinket, taken up by some fad, deafened by choice to the Spirit’s voice.

These tears are not born of despondency or depression. They are the Spirit’s work. He allows us to catch of glimpse of the heart of the Father that is broken by the sins and suffering of His Creation. Do you realize that the Bible’s Gospel is not at all about escape?  It is about engagement.  God did not abandon the world to sin, He came to be part of the world to bring salvation to us. "So the Word became human and lived here on earth among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the only Son of the Father." (John 1:14, NLT) “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16, NLT)  Jesus Christ is God come to earth, God becoming Man, God warring with Evil, God defeating sin.  Our churches are decorated by crosses and from that many people gather that what happened there was the grand finale of God’s plan, except it wasn’t!

Yes, the Cross is amazing and key to our hope.  There we see Jesus becoming sin for us, bearing the guilt of the world.  But, the story of the Cross is incomplete without Resurrection morning.  When Jesus stepped out of the Tomb, alive forever more, He gave us evidence that sin’s power is broken.  Like Jesus we need not preserve our lives by escape.  We can ‘die’ to Self, engage with a suffering world at great cost, because of the Resurrection!  We must remember that we are invited to enter into new life with Him, not just so we can eventually go to Heaven, but to wrench Creation and those who live in it from the grasp of evil.  We can give our lives with the certain hope that He will give us everlasting life. After a long, detailed argument about the reality of Jesus’ resurrection, the Word comes around to this conclusion: "Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain." (1 Corinthians 15:58, NIV)

Are you so assured of God’s power to save that you will follow Him into dark places to be His light, serve Him in difficult situations without complaint?  Here is a word from the Word. Take hold of its promise by faith then boldly go where tears abound, with complete confidence in His promise to save. "And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you." (Romans 8:11, NIV)  “ Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us." (Romans 8:34, NIV)  "We are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8:37-39, NIV)

Amen