The Difference One Life Can Make

It's easy to think that one person can't make much of a difference, but I read a verse yesterday in Jeremiah that paints a very different picture. We can have a bigger impact than we ever imagined.

God told Jeremiah to search through the streets of Jerusalem, looking for a righteous man. 

"If there is one who does justice, who seeks truth, then I will pardon her." Jeremiah 5:1 nasb

At the time that was written, people in Jerusalem were worshipping idols, including burning babies alive as an offering to Molech. The immorality rivaled our own. Sin and false religion were rampant. They had more "fake church" than real worship. 

The presence of just one man who did justice (mishpat) and sought truth could have ushered in pardon for the entire city of Jerusalem, despite their sin. 

What great love God has for His people that He would be willing to forgive to the uttermost. To pardon the unpardonable. To accept the righteousness of one for all. Yet there was not one who did justice, who sought truth.

Just one could have made a difference, but there was none. 

The prophets had already spoken truth to the people of Jerusalem, but they ignored them. Everyone did whatever they wanted. If Jeremiah had said, "It will only take one to save you," would they have changed their hearts and ways? Maybe, but, by then, it would have been too late. 

The time to live a righteous life was before God sent Jeremiah to search for one.

I have to wonder what God thinks when He looks at us. Would He hold off judgment if He found one among us who sincerely did justice and sought truth with their whole heart? 

How much of an impact could we make, if we were willing to be the one? 

In a world where everyone else was doing wrong, would you be willing to be the one who did right? Would I? 

Would we be willing to live as God commands if we knew we could save a city by our right choices? 

We will never know just how big a difference we could make, if we never try. So let us step up and live as Christ commanded. Let us love our God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength. Let us love our neighbor as ourselves.

Let's live life God's way, and watch to see how God can use us. There may be a city standing on the cusp between judgment and pardon, waiting on our lives to decide their future. 

"He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?" Micah 6:8 esv

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In case you missed it, here's yesterday's post:Tupelo: Turning Tragedy Into Triumph
Here the link to the worldwide prayer guide: The Prayer List 
#betheone #justice #righteousness

Extending Mercy

Woe unto you! for ye are as the tombs which appear not, and the men that walk over them know it not. And one of the lawyers answering saith unto him, Teacher, in saying this thou reproachest us also. And he said, Woe unto you lawyers also! for ye load men with burdens grievous to be borne, and ye yourselves touch not the burdens with one of your fingers. Woe unto you! for ye build the tombs of the prophets, and your fathers killed them. So ye are witnesses and consent unto the works of your fathers: for they killed them, and ye build their tombs. (Luke 11:44-48 ASV)

Jesus spoke to the lawyers concerning their failings, as well as to the Pharisees. Remember that "woe" basically means "you should be ashamed of yourself". The "lawyers" were the scribes. They studied the law in depth and taught it to the people The problem for which Jesus reproved them was that they added man's tradition to God's law and made following the law more burdensome than God intended. 

What they taught the people was "grievous to be borne" but the lawyers (or scribes) didn't bother to follow it. They had an appearance of piety, but, in private, they did whatever they wanted. They were not only false teachers but also hypocrites, for they tried to hold people to a standard they could not attain. They didn't even attempt to rise to the standard they had set. 

My grandmother used to say, "What's good for the goose is good for the gander." She had a variety of uses for that phrase, but she mostly used it to indicate that, if others should do a thing, so should I. Good for one, good for all. 

So it is with discipleship. Right is always right. If Jesus says we are to live a certain way, then we all are supposed to live that way. The life of a disciple is, in some ways, much easier than we have been led to believe. If we choose our actions based on the Golden Rule, we have a good start on acting like Jesus. Treat others as you want them to treat you. 

One of the problems we have is that we only want to treat certain people as we want them to treat us. If I want mercy but try to administer justice to those around me instead, I have failed to love my neighbor as myself. 

Recently, I spoke to a young man who was paying a ticket for a seat belt violation. "He could have got me bad," he told me of the policeman who had stopped him. The policeman had seen the other violations but had chosen to mention them instead of pile up fines for the young man. When he realized the seat belt ticket would not go on his record, he was thrilled. "I'd have had to go to the big house (prison) if it did." Then, he told me what I didn't expect, "You don't have to worry about me any more. I never want to go to that big house ever again. I've learned my lesson. I'm not taking any more chances." He turned to his friend, who was with him. "Even my friends are buckling their seat belts when they ride with me now." His friend confirmed it.

The young man had been given mercy when a more severe citation would have been justified. It was the kind of grace I'd like to receive. The policeman had acted with mercy, and that's how I want to be, too. Will the seat belt offender break the law again? Maybe, but maybe not. I'm not called to predict the future, but to respond in the present. 

We have the opportunity to extend either mercy or judgment to all those we encounter. Let's choose mercy, every time. After all, if the choice is between justice or mercy, mercy is what I want given to me.

He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. (Micah 6:8 NIV)

Be a Voice, Not an Echo: Lessons from the Life of Tyndale

Life has not always been easy for Christians.

William Tyndale lived in England in the early 1500's, at a time when the Bible was only available to the most learned men who read Greek and Hebrew.  The lack of an English translation of the Bible was a great vexation to Tyndale, who saw grave corruption in many of the church leaders of the day.

The common person had no defense against their edicts, because they had no way of knowing what the Scripture really said.  There was a feeling that, "We would be better off without God's laws" than without the laws of the church leaders.

Tyndale was stunned and replied that he would "cause a plowboy to know more of the Scriptures" than the current leaders before he was through.  Tyndale's insistence upon lining up teaching in the church with the Word of God caused many leaders in England to hate him and brand him a heretic.

Because of plots against his life, Tyndale fled to Germany where he translated the New Testament and later the Old Testament into English.  The Bishop of London attempted to buy all the copies Tyndale had printed so that he could burn them, but Tyndale and his friends used the money to print three times as many Bibles as before.

Intending to squelch the spread of the Word, the Bishop actually helped spread it.  When that failed, Sir Thomas More, then Chancellor of England, did not rest until he had obtained a proclamation from the King to ban the Bibles and had arrested Tyndale.

In 1536, William Tyndale was burned at the stake for his all-consuming love of the Word of God and his dedication to ensuring its availability to the common man. His last words were a prayer for those who had persecuted him.  "Lord, open the King of England's eyes."

Tyndale's obsession for the Word of God has made this post, the Bible in your home, the online Bible we use, the Bible studies we attend possible.  As William Tyndale was tied to the stake and the flames rose up around him, he probably never imagined the number of English Bibles that would be available nearly 500 years later.  He was simply faithful to the cause of Christ with no promise of the outcome.  He did not see the fruit of his labors before his death.  The lack of obvious fruit did not deter him from faithfully performing the task God had given him.

After Tyndale's death, an amazing thing happened.  Less than two years later, King Henry VIII authorized the first English Bible, known as the Great Bible, for the Church of England.  That is amazing enough in itself, but what is really astounding is that the Bible he authorized was Tyndale's translation! God answered Tyndale's prayer in a wonderful way, and his work is still bearing fruit in my life and in yours today.

G.K. Chesterton wrote in What's Wrong With The World, "The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and left untried."  Micah 6:8 was my mother's favorite Bible verse, and it sums up what the Christian life looks like.  "He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God."

William Tyndale was a man who cared about both mercy and justice. He was burdened by the ignorance of the masses about the Word of God and the injustices of the clergy of the time.  He knew he needed to put truth (in the form of the Word of God) in the hands of the masses so they could confront evil for themselves.  He was heartbroken by an injustice and took action to correct it.  In fact, his commitment to his task cost him his life.

There are still people around the world who are imprisoned for the cause of Christ.  There are still people around the world who are dying for the cause of Christ.  This quote from Wikipedia sums the situation up:

 "According to Pope Benedict XVI, Christians are the most persecuted group in the contemporary world.^[125] The Holy See has reported that over 100,000 Christians are violently killed annually because of some relation to their faith.^[126] According to the World Evangelical Alliance, over 200 million Christians are denied fundamental human rights solely because of their faith."^[127] 

According to Voice of the Martyrs, Christians in more than forty countries face active persecution for their faith.  The stories on their website (www.persecution.com) will break your heart.  They will likely convict you, as well.

Our brothers and sisters in Christ around the world are sacrificing themselves for the cause of Christ, and in many instances dying for their faith.  Their discipleship is costly.  In this country, however, it is a much different story.  We complain about loss of religious liberty, but do we take advantage of the liberty we have?  How effective are we as disciples?  What difference are we making in the world around us?

Doing justice, loving mercy, and walking humbly with our God are not easy tasks.  It requires being salt and light in the world around you.  Silence about injustice is not optional if you are going to live out the Christian ideal, and neither is taking action.  Committing yourself to the task will change your life.  I know.  It has changed my life in ways I never imagined, many of which are harder than I expected, but sweeter than I ever hoped.

The first century Christians lived as if Jesus would return any day, and so should we.  Our discipleship should make a difference in the world around us.  If it does not, one could ask if it is discipleship at all. What are you doing to change the world around you?  Will the world be different 500 years from now because of your faith walk today?  That's the kind of difference I want to make.  Don't you?  I want to be a voice for Christ, not an echo of the world around me.  Being a voice for Christ was costly for William Tyndale, but judging by the Bibles in my home, I think it was worth it, and I expect he would say so, too.

The life and work of one man, doing one task faithfully, no matter the cost, still impacts my life on a daily basis five centuries later.  Let's live in such a way that we, too, can make a lasting difference.

Let's be a voice, not an echo.