As a pastor, I’m often curious about where people find self-worth – and what happens as they’re looking for it. How does the need for self-worth guide unbelievers to do and say what they do? How does it guide Christians to behave as we do?
This issue has been paramount since the beginning. Very early in Scripture we see Cain, because his sacrifice was not accepted, doubting his worthiness – and acts accordingly as he slays his brother Abel. Those who gather at Babel, anxious to have a reputation, are trying to establish their worthiness – and act accordingly with their ambitious building project. And on and on it goes, all the way down to us.
Generations before us have tried to establish their worthiness by making a lot of money, wielding a lot of power, or drawing a lot of eyes. And now it seems modern culture has added another wrinkle – establishing personal worthiness by despising a lot of enemies.
We must recognize the flesh’s insatiable desire to have its own way and plot its own rule.
Wide swaths of our population seek to find their self-worth in finding and attacking opponents, attempting to score debate points by naming and shaming ideological adversaries. Social media is the battlefield of choice in this endeavor, but it can also spill over into extended family networks, business arenas, and even congregations.
Now is a great time to remind ourselves that the Christian journey begins when an individual deals with the number one enemy: self. Or, to be more specific, deals with one’s sinful nature, one’s flesh. We must recognize the flesh’s insatiable desire to have its own way and plot its own rule. Our spiritual journey with Jesus begins by denying the flesh so that we might submit to the Savior. Once we’ve chosen a way that brings defeat to the power of sin and self, we are released not to find worth in annihilating a blood-and-bone enemy, but in knowing a Redeemer. We now have worth not in who we are, but in Whose we are.
Yet carnal influences remain. It is incredibly tempting in our day of political bickering to be “mental lawyers” – that is, to consume the latest news and immediately build a case in our minds for why our politics are right and the other side’s are wrong.
This is not to say there are no absolutes. Thankfully, there are many, and the Bible spells them out. But if and when the time comes to give greater public account for our Christian convictions, we’re called not to rise up with weaponry but to suffer for the faith – just as our early Anabaptist forebears did, just as our early Church brothers and sisters did. Those predecessors and others put into practice the teaching of Jesus: “You have heard that it was said, Love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:43-45a HCSB).
God is not looking for prosecutors. He’s looking for intercessors. And we follow the example of the greatest Intercessor of all, the One who said on a rugged, Roman cross, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34a KJV).
One Response
This is a good word, Daryl. We know who Scripture identifies as “the accuser of our brothers” and who it identifies that “always lives to make intercession for them.” It should be an easy choice which side to join.