July 3, 2009

• Passion, rightly applied

  Fighting, contending earnestly, for the "faith that was handed down once for all" is an interesting dilemma.  Just what do we fight against?  Many folks take from the verse in my previous post permission to fight others.  From the Catholic crusades to our modern American "Culture Wars" we have Christians freely attacking (physically or verbally) whomever stands in their way.  We have denominational wars as group x derides group y, as Protestant attacks Catholic, Catholic attacks Anglican, Anglican attacks Anglican, Protestant attacks Protestant, or (this list could go on and on and  . . .).

  But is that the fight that Jude envisioned when he wrote?  Did he see our modern denominational squabbles, our efforts to ban gay marriage, or our protest marches?  Did he see our TV preachers pounding out hatred like Morse code on their pulpits?

  I'd like to suggest that Jude envisioned a much more difficult fight.  And because this fight is so difficult, we are all tempted to settle for those other sorts of fights.  I believe Jude was calling each of his readers to engage in the battle with his own soul, his own mind, his own strength, and his own heart.  Only in these places could each reader have any hope of fighting to win.  Jesus put it bluntly:  "take the log out of your own eye so that you can see clearly . . ."  Paul put it bluntly:  "I don't fight as a man beating the air.  No, I buffet my body to make it my slave."

  Peter put it much more elaborately.  First, he tells how we ought treat one another: 

  "To sum up, all of you be harmonious, sympathetic, brotherly, kindhearted, and humble in spirit; not returning evil for evil or insult for insult, but giving a blessing instead; for you were called for the very purpose that you might inherit a blessing.

  Then he tells how we ought to treat ourselves:

  For, "THE ONE WHO DESIRES LIFE, TO LOVE AND SEE GOOD DAYS, MUST KEEP HIS TONGUE FROM EVIL AND HIS LIPS FROM SPEAKING DECEIT. "HE MUST TURN AWAY FROM EVIL AND DO GOOD; HE MUST SEEK PEACE AND PURSUE IT. "FOR THE EYES OF THE LORD ARE TOWARD THE RIGHTEOUS, AND HIS EARS ATTEND TO THEIR PRAYER, BUT THE FACE OF THE LORD IS AGAINST THOSE WHO DO EVIL."                    1 Peter 3:8-12

  Jesus said that the entire law and prophets could be summed up in just two simple commands:  "Love God" and "Love Your Neighbor."  If that could be our that measuring stick (love for God and neighbor), how are we fairing in our fight "for the faith?"  Are we fighting the heresy in our own selves?  Are we making sure that our hearts, minds, souls, and spirits are completely on fire with love for God?  Is everything we do to others something that we'd want done to us?

  If you're like me, such a fight demands constant vigilance and effort.  I slip easily into those other sorts of fights.  I fall easily out of the fight against myself.  Solomon put it wisely:

  I passed by the field of the sluggard And by the vineyard of the man lacking sense, And behold, it was completely overgrown with thistles; Its surface was covered with nettles, And its stone wall was broken down. When I saw, I reflected upon it; I looked, and received instruction. "A little sleep, a little slumber, A little folding of the hands to rest," Then your poverty will come as a robber And your want like an armed man."                                                                                                                          Proverbs 24:30-34

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