CAB-DRIVING, AN HONORABLE JOB
Hope is that thing that looks harsh reality in the eye,
recognises it for what it is and still believes that everything is
working toward a glorious conclusion because God has said so with an
eternal "yes!" It isn't a silly optimism that can only make sense on a
lovely spring morning when everything is going our way—that's not hope!
Hope—at least the biblical kind—is made of stronger stuff than that. It
doesn't close its eyes to tough truth, hard to handle arguments,
distressing mysteries and the unceasing pain of a wrong and wronged
world.
And what is there that's strong enough to
look these awful realities in the eye, give them their due and then
dismiss them with confidence? Cosmic troubles can only be dealt with by
cosmic assurance! Only galactic-sized answers can satisfy galactic-sized
questions and only the "God of all comfort" can comfort universal
suffering. We Christians hope and cry one to another in the words of one
of our ancient fellow-believers, "Hope thou in God!"
With
money in the bank, good health and an extensive support system of
friends and family we're conned into thinking that we can truly hope.
When we've elected the "right" President or Prime Minister and the
various houses are well-stocked with the kind of politicians we approve,
we have a sense of security—hope is well grounded. But when our
dwindling money can only buy us medicine and not health, when our
friends have troubles of their own and can't be there for us all the
time and when our pain is only augmented by the pain our families are
bearing we move from dismay toward despair.
I've no
wish to deny that these realities and more are part of daily living as
humans and that they matter! I want to say that the hope of the world
and the hope of each one of us as part of that human family is grounded
nowhere else but in the work of God as he has revealed himself in Jesus
Christ. It isn't the denial of harsh realities that we proclaim it's the
affirmation of undeniable truth as it is seen in Jesus Christ our Lord.
Shame
on all that minister the word in God's name who feed us nothing but
"nice" little sermons and "delightful" little points and "interesting"
little biblical portraits and "informative" glances at this or that!
These are not the truths that give us a sense of our destiny and mission
to the world. These are not what fill us with purpose and the power to
defy the chaos of the world and the entrenched evils that would strip us
of dignity and meaning. It's the cross and what it means that disarms
the authorities and powers and makes a spectacle of them; and nothing
less than feeding the church on all these massive truths is the
minister's business.
We need more than correct
"answers" to biblical questions and more than tanker-loads of moral
opinions while starving for the meaning and implications of the
Incarnation, life, death, resurrection and exaltation of Jesus Christ to
God's right hand. We need more than a "gospel" that is almost an
apologetic invitation instead of a bold declaration of the fact of Christ's Lordship!
We
don't need leaders whose aim is greater numbers in their churches,
whose central aim is to please the religious consumers they have helped
to create. We don't need ministers who are especially concerned with
making a name for themselves as "fearless"; men that spend their lives
correcting people at important points while depriving the church they
minister to of the indispensable "gospel" that enables it to face a
fierce world like ours with radiant and contagious hope in their hearts.
The hope and radiance the world needs to see and hear is that which is
generated by God's redeeming work in Jesus Christ. And if we don't know
or really care to know how to develop that and make it the steady diet
of our people then we ought to get an honorable job like digging ditches
or driving a taxi.
Most
within Christendom see Jesus as One Who expects people to accept Him
“by faith.” What they mean by “faith” is that people ought to accept
Jesus as the Son of God without any proof, evidence, or rational
justification—simply because He claimed to be divine.
Most, in fact, see faith and proof as opposites. They think one must
have faith in those areas where proof is unavailable. To them, “faith”
is blindly accepting what you cannot prove, and deciding to believe what you cannot know.
