2023-06-30 A Meditation on Fidelity

“4 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already. 4 Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. 5 They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them. 6 We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.” (1 Jn 4:1–6 ESV)

Any good prognosis of affairs does envision a last days, and see just who—presently a thorn in the side—will fall into line. Yet some are a problem to such vision. Some are too convicted, too moral, too strong-minded. They will never give in, not under the fear of what the day will bring, not under duress, not under group-mind. These, we long to be. We long to fashion ourselves in this mold.

Well we know the flat affect and compromised soul of those who deny Christ under pressure. For, Christ had swooped in to save, at precisely the moment when we died to self. We let Him into our special places, all of a sudden these special places were unable to complete the mixture or finish the cipher or make the grade on their own. Our very conscience is shaped around this earnest reality. Our very seat of reasoning has known the firm grasp, the re-parenting, the divine endeavor to save us, the trust fall and the warm embrace.

We need not go the route of the self-immolating disciple Judas. We regain our soul’s greater concern because well we know the Truth of our own personal religious experience. Judas of New Testament scripture never quite belonged. He never quite vibed off of the shared time, such precious time, with the Son and with the prayerful fellowship with the Father and Holy Spirit together. He was looking out for the money bag. He had a natural inclination to calculate, even in matters of hearth and family and home. This is none of us who can claim to be Converted. This is none of us who are affright at the plaintive pressure-laden free association and speech: did we honor the Father? Did we speak in the Spirit? How many Peter-like times are there in our efforts to socialize? Peter, who denied Jesus at the very moment Jesus needed all the buttressing and prayer from His people: whilst He was on the way to the Cross (Mk 14:66ff).

We are unashamed under social gossip and deadly humor. Masked as light-hearted, it strikes at the soul of our personal justification for being: our conversion story. It shows no fear of the saints of yesteryear. It shows no grasp of the non-threatening response of such a saint or a disciple: we have not the means to discipline this humorous death-trap or that jab; we are sent forth to be persecuted, to be exhorted by said irreverence to stay near to a special message saved for those few to whom we are sent. Don’t aim to convert the world: aim to form those disciples strong under pressure, formed and shaped for steel-like presentation. Hearts certain that, if a moment was permitted to answer to the charges, it would be a boon to the overall atmosphere and to all present. To have a choice before each of us, when previously there was no choice but a heavy-handed mutuality around punishing the interloper. For, we too are as latecomers capable of benefit from the simple school-age testimony of those stalwart saints in the land. We are also capable of an airy remove, or stature, because Christ made space in our world-weary hearts.

So the choice is ours as well: words overheard in the city are words that wound, but words that remind us: sharpness is found under unfavorable circumstances. Sharpness is afforded to the one who can shake the dust off of their feet and move on. Sharpness is the soldier’s willingness to be the bigger soul and be magnanimous: something about these poor citizens is yearning for a Purpose and a Cause. In that winnowing hour, some of these will indeed remember a testimony that seemed strong for any course. That seemed wise and experienced in a trial that for some is perpetually underway. So we do not despair to stare down death traps and do so with a deep death-defying obligation to instill politeness, calm, blessing, into what memories so fleetingly are formed. One day, on such matters shall all be judged.