Christians belong to a Holy, Righteous, Ratchet Squad
Believers who know where they are going know how to get there
The Christian faith has a 2,000 year history. The God who Christians worship has a history much longer than that. God is infinite, and yet chooses to invite humans into his circle. Why, then, do believers have such myopic hope for the world around them? The American church is mocked for its religious gluttony while it abdicates its moral responsibility for caring for the widow, the orphan, and the imprisoned. Instead of a vibrant group of people who love the Creator and long to serve his purposes, the world sees a judgmental club filled with such privilege that they dare to call the United States a Christian nation. There is an abundance of signals that the world is not okay, but the perception is that Christians seem content to live as though there’s nothing they can do about it. The truth is that Christians should be the first to believe that anything is possible!
Christians have claim to truths about human relationships that change the world. So why does the world feel unchanged in its plotted course toward destruction? As a Christian, I have learned to admit that I harbor great disbelief that the world will ever improve. It seems logical: humanity is bent toward pride and sin and will reliably fall back into that pattern of selfish and self-serving destruction. Though it is sound and predictive, is my only choice to despair? No! There is another path I can take. The God who created Adam and Eve knowing full well the choice they would make in the Garden of Eden did not abandon us without hope. Instead, he taught us how to overcome the deceitfulness of sin.
‘You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin; and you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons, “My son , do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord , nor faint when you are reproved by Him; for those whom the Lord loves he disciplines, and he scourges every son whom he receives.” It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline?’ Hebrews 12:4–7
Discipline requires self-denial. Every person bears the responsibility of their words and actions, and eventually there is a moment that the conscience is awakened and causes people to think about the consequences to others before gratifying a violent delight. Hearing the conscience is not saving faith because there are scores of headlines today portraying people who know their conscience very well but willfully choose to rebel against it for fame or profit. It is not saving faith because even when people do follow their conscience, no one can be perfect and unintended consequences abound. True, saving faith is much greater than an inner voice of truth; faith enables the Christian to take on the burden of discipline with joy, because he understands in his soul that his destiny is bound to the finished work of Jesus Christ.
Someone who believes he will see his life from heaven’s eyes might look like someone who has flipped gravity. The Christian believes that Jesus was crucified, buried, and rose again so that those who believe in him would be counted as righteous before a holy God. Jesus’ work is the ultimate example of self-denial, a deed so scandalous that it robs a thief of his own wages in sin. In that holy act, believers find hope that God has reconciled the broken relationship between Creator and creation and that through his discipline they might learn to trust even more. In this way, discipline is a light burden because it is an assurance that God is watching out for his child. A creation on the right path appears to know where it is going.
The gospel that Christians preach is that Jesus paid their debt. What a glorious thing to trust! It means that God is no longer far away, but near; that sin is no longer damnation, but the opportunity to obey God and experience grace; that life is all the more sweeter in spite of its bitterness. No honest believer will say they feel this wellspring of joy always, but I don’t know a believer who hasn’t tasted it. Faith in Jesus is a risk worth taking to stand before God and be declared righteous. The believer who rests completely on that promise has the freedom to be radical in her hope for the world.
The joy of a believer is found in the promise of Christ. Joy is a rush, coursing through the soul as though dancing on thunder. A joyful believer lives out truth in her life and is unwilling to simply let her religion be words she says but does not mean.
Go, breathe infinity! Do you know where you’re going? You are headed for glory. Have courage. Citizens and saints of God: you are a holy, righteous, ratchet squad!
This article was inspired by the single release “The Rush” from Kings Kaleidoscope’s upcoming album Zeal, available Spring 2019.
