The Echo to Eternity
September 3, 2007
Bible Reading: ” … 37 Pilate therefore said to Him, “Are You a king then?” Jesus answered, “You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.” ~St. John 18:37 (NKJV)
Bonus Reading: St. John 14:6-10
In the 2000 film, “Gladiator,” the protagonist Maximus, a former Roman general-turned-gladiator, told men facing decisions of moral courage—which could cost them everything—“What we do in this life echoes into eternity.” Not surprisingly, those he was speaking to did, indeed, find courage. Although this film was set in pre-Christian Rome, Maximus’
words speak volumes to the Christian heart. And they task us.
Beloved in Christ, we serve the King of Truth, and a good start in our lives in Him would be to live up to the prayer ++Thomas Cranmer wrote for the Second Sunday in Advent in the 1549 Book of Common Prayer:
Blessed Lord, who hast caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning: Grant that we may in such wise hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that by patience and comfort of thy holy Word we may embrace, and ever hold fast,
the blessed hope of everlasting life, which thou hast given us in our Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.”
This means we take the Scripture, and, as St. Paul taught in 1 Corinthians 15, we receive it—meaning we make it part of who we are—just as we do with our food in digestion—wherein we also stand. He does then, expect us to stand for it, warning that if we are ashamed of Him before men, He will be ashamed of us before His Father. In short, in our
dealings with those around us, He expects us to know and communicate His Word, not our own feelings or opinions.
Consider the following from Marva Dawn in Talking the Walk:
The value of “opinion” in our society has been so corrupted as to have taken on sinful proportions. Opinions have become our personal gods or, more accurately, the proof that we are our own gods. They signify our autonomy, a massive leveling of all convictions, the abandonment of all standards, the elimination of truth. It drives me nuts!
At a youth convention, an attractive young lady came earnestly to talk with me. She asked what I thought about a certain matter in sexual ethics. I answered her with the most careful biblical reading and ethical nuancing I’d gained in years of training. She responded, “Well, I just wanted to know your opinion.”
“That wasn’t my opinion,” I replied. “If I’d given you my opinion, it would have been the opposite because I really would like to escape these biblical truths and say what pleases everybody. I told you as faithfully as I could what I have discerned God is saying. That’s much more sound, more reliable, more eternally true than my measly opinion.”
She looked at me in shock. How could anyone question the importance of personal opinion? How could anyone give an answer different from his own private feelings?
Think about it: How do we stand for the Truth in the marketplace of ideas that comprises our information-soaked world? Are we driven by our more convenient feelings—or by the power of God’s unchanging Word, as revealed by His Spirit? What we do here, truly does echo into eternity. May that resonance have the timbre of Christ!
Grace and peace,
Chip+
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