For it is for Your sake I have borne reproach, that dishonor has covered my face. I have become a stranger to my brothers, an alien to my mother's sons.
For zeal for Your house has consumed me, and the reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me. When I wept and humbled my soul with fasting, it became my reproach. When I made sackcloth my clothing, I became a byword to them. I am the talk of those who sit at the gate, and the drunkards make songs about me.
But as for me, my prayer is to You, O Lord. At an acceptable time, O God, in the abundance of Your steadfast love answer me in Your saving faithfulness. (Verses 7-13)
Nicholas, my grandson, was sitting in his classroom across from another boy he likes very much. They were discussing 12-21-12. The day the Mayans declared the world would end. Nicholas's classmate was concerned about the event. Wondering what that meant for him, personally. Nicholas tried to assuage the fear of the end by saying he wasn't worried because he was going to heaven.
"How do you know that?" queried his friend.
"Because I have Jesus in my heart," Nicholas averred.
"I don't have him in my heart. I haven't done that," answered the fearful classmate. "Does that mean I will go to hell?"
Ooops. The discussion went to hell. Heaven was Nicholas's hope. Hadn't thought about the alternative on his birthday. Nicholas came into the world on 12-21-01. Going to heaven would be a much better trip than Disneyland to celebrate the occasion. Couldn't imagine going to hell instead. Also couldn't imagine telling his friend he would go there. "Maybe."
Another classmate was listening to this conversation. He is a friend of both boys, but was offended that Nicholas would tell their friend he was going to hell. It all blew up in my grandson's face. All he was trying to do was comfort a friend with his own comfort. Instead, the reproach of the cross became Nicholas's also. It has all worked out. The mother of the boy in question is a fabulous mom with a great understanding of what happened.
But....it made me think about the challenges we Christians face now and our children will face in the future in a world that would rather hear about heaven than hell. Pluralism, hedonism and the smearing of moral values makes being a Christian unpopular. More and more we will bear the reproach that Christ Himself bore if we dare to expose darkness to the Light. Christ spoke the truth and for it, the religious leaders dragged Him into secular courts so that all men chose to kill Him rather than put up with the heresy of His proclamation to be God, the Son. In a world where we kill our babies in wholesale fashion and dump their little bodies into trash cans, where we make wrong, right, and justify it by our own hubris and where "do what feels good" is the motto of the day, we should expect reproach for believing there is a God in heaven Who came to earth to save us. Jesus was not political. Not a good man or a great moral teacher. He came into the world to save us from our sins. If we don't acknowledge our sinfulness, we don't understand our need for salvation. Can't comprehend why there would even be a hell.
While the Bill Maher's of the world crack jokes about Christians and mayors and govenors strike His name from Christmas, we know this: We pray to a God Who hears us, loves us and saves us. When we, as Daniel, bow and pray in the face of ridicule and rage, we aren't simply being religious. Our God is powerful to save us because of His great love. Oh, they sadly miss that. Those who would laugh Him off. His neverending love is the pearl of great price. It is the one thing we cannot live without as it covers us in this world. Rather than caving to the ideology of our craven world, we can say with David: But as for me, my prayer is to You, O Lord.
For zeal for Your house has consumed me, and the reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me. When I wept and humbled my soul with fasting, it became my reproach. When I made sackcloth my clothing, I became a byword to them. I am the talk of those who sit at the gate, and the drunkards make songs about me.
But as for me, my prayer is to You, O Lord. At an acceptable time, O God, in the abundance of Your steadfast love answer me in Your saving faithfulness. (Verses 7-13)
Nicholas, my grandson, was sitting in his classroom across from another boy he likes very much. They were discussing 12-21-12. The day the Mayans declared the world would end. Nicholas's classmate was concerned about the event. Wondering what that meant for him, personally. Nicholas tried to assuage the fear of the end by saying he wasn't worried because he was going to heaven.
"How do you know that?" queried his friend.
"Because I have Jesus in my heart," Nicholas averred.
"I don't have him in my heart. I haven't done that," answered the fearful classmate. "Does that mean I will go to hell?"
Ooops. The discussion went to hell. Heaven was Nicholas's hope. Hadn't thought about the alternative on his birthday. Nicholas came into the world on 12-21-01. Going to heaven would be a much better trip than Disneyland to celebrate the occasion. Couldn't imagine going to hell instead. Also couldn't imagine telling his friend he would go there. "Maybe."
Another classmate was listening to this conversation. He is a friend of both boys, but was offended that Nicholas would tell their friend he was going to hell. It all blew up in my grandson's face. All he was trying to do was comfort a friend with his own comfort. Instead, the reproach of the cross became Nicholas's also. It has all worked out. The mother of the boy in question is a fabulous mom with a great understanding of what happened.
But....it made me think about the challenges we Christians face now and our children will face in the future in a world that would rather hear about heaven than hell. Pluralism, hedonism and the smearing of moral values makes being a Christian unpopular. More and more we will bear the reproach that Christ Himself bore if we dare to expose darkness to the Light. Christ spoke the truth and for it, the religious leaders dragged Him into secular courts so that all men chose to kill Him rather than put up with the heresy of His proclamation to be God, the Son. In a world where we kill our babies in wholesale fashion and dump their little bodies into trash cans, where we make wrong, right, and justify it by our own hubris and where "do what feels good" is the motto of the day, we should expect reproach for believing there is a God in heaven Who came to earth to save us. Jesus was not political. Not a good man or a great moral teacher. He came into the world to save us from our sins. If we don't acknowledge our sinfulness, we don't understand our need for salvation. Can't comprehend why there would even be a hell.
While the Bill Maher's of the world crack jokes about Christians and mayors and govenors strike His name from Christmas, we know this: We pray to a God Who hears us, loves us and saves us. When we, as Daniel, bow and pray in the face of ridicule and rage, we aren't simply being religious. Our God is powerful to save us because of His great love. Oh, they sadly miss that. Those who would laugh Him off. His neverending love is the pearl of great price. It is the one thing we cannot live without as it covers us in this world. Rather than caving to the ideology of our craven world, we can say with David: But as for me, my prayer is to You, O Lord.
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