2023-07-30 A Meditation on In From the Cold

“30 I appeal to you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in your prayers to God on my behalf, 31 that I may be delivered from the unbelievers in Judea, and that my service for Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints, 32 so that by God’s will I may come to you with joy and be refreshed in your company.” Ro 15:30–32 (ESV)

The spy who came in from the cold. The cage fighter who revealed a new phase in the war. For the spirit. For the community together, no belligerence towards a stereotyped and slandered enemy “at large”, “out there, in the world”, but rather this day we propose to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling (Phil 2:12). We propose, that as Jesus spoke, a demon was revealed in the temple (Mk 1:21ff). We propose, that our own backyards, highways and byways, call for diligent self-assessment. We assess. We unify. We understand what and how an enemy operates, namely, with untold determination and punctuality, gumption and unbounded heights. This, this frustrates us and frightens the fighter within. But too, the day is arriving, when all is a drop in the bucket, moot, when unfought battles were in fact dutifully fought in peace time, by our love for the fellowship. By loving on the fellow or gal in our midst. By that warm feeling of appreciating simple fellowship, simple because it is quick and in passing, a “Hello”, a “Good day”, a “Thank you, mate”.

Therefore the long time a spy and laborer for the Christian cause is on their own tether and without any news from the spirits that sent her or him. Therefore the bafflement, monitored and assessed whilst behind common, inimical perhaps, lines. Behind the social frameworks that all of us, as such intelligence officers, need to bring our earnest newfound Christian faith to bear upon. We bear up under a load; we are out “in the cold” but accepting our own sacrificial lifestyles for the sake of our peers and mentors, actors and friends, who are on the front lines.

Thus to witness Jesus unable to justify the legions of Faith-based soldiers to intervene. Thus to realize our best agents and field officers, may be of a deeply Christian pacificity and inclination. Even as they wield untold technology and armaments. Even as they are subtle and sublime, soft spoken and quiet; even as they are cage fighters on a hidden mission, their new normal is inspired and informed by the Preacher and not just the Warrior. By the Thinker as much as the Bodyguard. For, we live in a climate of needful protection, that protection for some, that intended for all who call upon the Name. Thus, the servant and thus Jesus crying out, “If any are thirsty, come to me!” (Jn 7:37). Thus, the end of being oblivious to the nasty subtext and murderous tirade of a whimpering and defeated, but still standing, devil. We shall overcome, by the refusal to engage in that devil’s tirade.