Christian Orthodoxy: The Standard vs. The Norm

What's normal for you? Do you feel satisfied with your life? Is that contentment (or lack thereof) based on the Father's prompting? Here's a couple of stories Chuck Colson told that challenged me.

Irreducible and Non-Negotiable
Christian Orthodoxy

February 4, 2008

What is the Christian faith all about? Two stories, 18 centuries apart, provide a clue.

Across an ancient Roman city, a deadly plague was spreading. The wealthy, including the doctors, all fled to their country estates, abandoning the poor. Paganism, you see, did not teach that human life is sacred.

But the growing number of Christians in Rome at that time believed that humans are made in the image of a loving God. They stayed and cared for the sick, sacrificing themselves for others.

Imagine a young Roman Christian—let's call him Fortunus—pulling a hand-drawn cart toward the fountain at the city's center, where the sick were going for water once their families had abandoned them. Today Fortunus finds 20 plague victims, loads them up, and takes them to a make-shift hospital for care.

Fortunus and his fellow Christians know they are risking their own lives. But paradoxically, their compassion did not deplete Christian ranks in the long term—quite the reverse. Tending to the sick increased the disease survival rate by as much as two-thirds—and this witness of Christian sacrifice attracted many new converts. The Church grew.

By acting on the teachings of Christ, without regard to their own welfare, these Christians progressed from being a small sect to the dominant cultural group.

Flash forward 18 centuries, to October 5, 2006, Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania. Charles Roberts burst into an Amish school house and shot 10 girls at point-blank range, killing five. He then shot himself.

But what happened next astonished the world. Amish families attended Robert's funeral, for the Bible says to mourn with those who mourn. As money poured in to pay for the wounded girls' medical bills, Amish leaders insisted that funds also be set aside to care for the killer's family.

Many were amazed at the love the Amish showed the family of their children's murderer—but it was the same love that every Christian ought to practice. It is nothing but the Gospel, although admittedly an all-too-rare instance of its full practice. But why don't Christianity's critics understand that the practice of love and forgiveness are hallmarks of Christianity—real Christianity?...

http://www.breakpoint.org/listingarticle.asp?ID=7500

Personally, I need motivation, but I also know some of you need encouragement because you are already pursuing those God-given objectives and it's terribly long, slow, patience-building work. Or it's not going quite in the direction you thought. Or the problems you're facing aren't the "right" problems. Remember, He's in the business of building your character, and the circumstances surrounding you...well, honestly, He's not as concerned with. He loves you and is excited about making you the best you can be.

"But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things shall be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow..." Matt 6:33-34a