Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

“Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.

• Matthew 10:34

Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division. From now on there will be five in one family divided against each other, three against two and two against three. They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”

• Luke 12:51-53

“The natural pagan, a man whose word is as good as his bond, a moral and upright man, is more delightful to meet than the Christian who has enough of the Spirit of God to spoil his sin but not enough to deliver him from it.”

• Oswald Chambers, Daily Thoughts for Disciples (September 24, from The Place of Help)

I have met many natural pagans in my lifetime.  They never seem to have a care.  They have figured this world out.  They know how to cheat the customer and cheat on their taxes.  And it does not bother them at all.  They have no moral compass.  As one told me once, “If anyone thinks I ever did anything wrong, it is their problem.  I meant to do it, and I’m always right.  If they got hurt, that is there problem too.”

That is great when the natural pagan is a relatively total stranger.  You meet, you part ways, you steer to ensure your paths do not cross again, but Jesus mentions in Matthew and Luke (verses not copied for Matthew) that this conflict will be more personal than avoiding a total stranger.  It will divide father and son, mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, etc.  That is when it hurts.

I envy these parents on television.  They are interviewed by the hosts of one Christian channel or another, and they praise God about how they had ten children, and all are out on the mission fields.  I can believe that happens, but it does not happen in every household, and you do not have to be a dysfunctional family to get the odd person – odd meaning unlike everyone else – who wants to see what it is like being rotten, and they find they sometimes get earthly benefits that Mom and Dad never got.  They may be empty inside, but do they ever notice?  They are too filled with their own hubris.

I had those battles within the family.  I had those battles at work.  I even had a battle or two at church.

When they are confident that their lifestyle works and they see the Christian struggle, they do not let that go lightly.  They enjoy pouncing.

Now, in the meantime, I have Jesus in my heart and the Holy Spirit guiding me.  They have no answer for that.  And they probably have some of the same problems.  They would simply never let a soul know that their lifestyle was anything other than perfect.

There is a mountain of Scriptures that talk about God being the judge and, in the end, we have nothing to worry about, but when you have invested a lot of time and effort in showing them that their lifestyle was a car going at full speed off the edge of a cliff, you can only sit back and pray for them.

They may hate you praying for them, but they cannot stop it.

And in the end, God is in control and His justice is righteous and pure.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.