Field Report #008

Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Ephesians 5:15-16

Without a shadow of a doubt, we live in evil days. Evil governments rule our nations and make and administer evil laws. Evil companies make a living out of the breaking of God's holy law. People like you and me are conceived in sin, and struggle against the evil in our hearts. We can imagine future evil in the specter of foreign powers like China or Russia who hold the power to bring terror upon the earth, and are more than willing to do so. 

I am interested in the idea of our place in all of this - individual Christians with small spheres of influence and specific, small,  ordinary callings in life. One helpful way of looking at our piety in the face of evil is to "look carefully" how we walk, "making the best use of the time". 

There is a great temptation in our distraction-soaked culture to make truly terrible use of the time. To be sloppy and thoughtless and undisciplined in the ways we spend the time God has given us. The days are far too evil, the danger far too present and prowling, to risk such a lifestyle.

Stop. And look around. See our nation calling good evil, and evil good. See our church attendance dwindling, denominations folding, and false religions rising. See the violence, the lies, the self-destructive raging of the wicked here in the United States. 

Imagine the forces of China mobilizing for war with the West, or the powers of Russia flipping the switch and unleashing nuclear war. 

Imagine the Deceiver, your old Adam, and the cosmic powers over this present darkness assembling for battle in the shadows and dark places of your city, your home, and your heart. Picture it, consider it, because that is exactly what is happening. 

So, dear Christian, specifically Christian men, what is our response?

Escape. Laziness. Willful blindness. We see the enemy in battle formation - and hide behind a glowing screen until it entertains us into blissful complacency. We hear of wars and rumors of wars, and fight back with a half-hearted attempt at a Bible reading plan for a few days. We run aimlessly, and we box as one beating the air. Constantly wondering what's missing, we have been deceived into a disgustingly weak and ignorant malaise of spineless Christianity. 

That kind of Christianity rarely lasts through the gauntlet of human suffering. In a generation of weak men such as ours, good men must rise up to lead, to take God's Word seriously. We must cling not to our outward veneer of strength and public Pharisaic piety, nor can we continue to run from the questions of life and death that linger on the horizon. Instead, we must look to the men of God who came before us, follow in their footsteps, fight the good fight, and keep the faith.

We look to King David, a weak and flawed man (like all others) who steadfastly put his trust in a merciful God, and led the people of Israel like a flock, finding his strength in his Lord.

We look to St. Stephen, who beheld the risen Lord as they pummeled him with rocks until he departed this world to rest in Christ Jesus.

We look to Johann Heermann, who became strong in the cross of his Savior through constant sickness and disastrous war, who wrote "I shall not fear what foes can do to harm me Nor death alarm me."

We look to Silvester Krčméry, who laughed with joy at the opportunity to suffer for Christ when arrested by Stalin's NKVD, and endured over a decade of torture in prison by finding solace in the words of John's Gospel committed to memory.

These men did not just happen to stand unmoving against the raging storm of the devil, the world, and their flesh. They did not just happen to pass on legacies of faith and steadfastness to their families and to all Christians. No. They stayed awake. They were ready. They kept their lamps trimmed and had their oil ready. They stood watch through the dark night, awaiting the morning of their Lord's return or their own death, which finally took each one of them. They did not escape. They stopped running with the world around them, turned, stood on the solid rock of Jesus Christ, and took up the Word of God and prayer.

Back to the Krčméry story... memorizing the entire Gospel of John doesn't just happen. Having the courage to laugh in the face of Stalin's purges is not something you're born with. It is the work of the Holy Spirt, through the Water and the Word, through the Body and the Blood.

Dear Christian, you and I must walk the narrow path and treat our lives as the battlefields that they are. 

Jesus Christ, crucified and risen from the dead, has won the war. And he promises that he will be back soon.

Will you heed his warning? Will you prepare?

Will you stay awake?

Come, Lord Jesus.

Stay awake.