| The great Puritan Preacher Richard Baxter (1615-1691) wrote “One proud lordly word, one needless contention … may blast the fruit of all you are doing“. We live in a day and age when many have chosen, for reasons unspoken, to be militantly anti-Christian. I know that today we Christians face opposition from all fronts – New Agers; Militant Muslims; New Militant Atheists; but also there is a growing opposition from the general public that seems to have no basis at all, other than they have chosen to live in an America that would rather not have their conscience pricked about anything, and would just as soon we keep our faith to ourselves! They do not even want to be exposed to any part of it at any time! Some of it might be an attempt to wall themselves away from any exposure to a God who might interfere with their lifestyles! They need to be reminded that Jesus appeared post-resurrection to those hiding behind locked doors. They are not nearly as safe as they think they are from His reach.
But the unbelievers that concern me, more than most, are those who we could call modern day kin to Malchus. Remember Malchus? He is the one in John 18 who had come to arrest Jesus, at the orders of the Jewish leaders. He was just following orders, when he encountered an overzealous misguided disciple of Jesus, who was quick to act-pulled his sword, swung for a head, but only lopped off his ear! He was acting contrary to the will of Jesus. He received a stern rebuke from Jesus, and Jesus had to act quickly to repair the damage done by his misguided follower! How many today are resistant to anything to do with Jesus because of some misguided things we have done, well meaning or not that have injured them? I had an evangelist that entered the home of a family I had been working on for several months. His first mistake was to shut off their television insisting they listen to his speal. When she lit a cigarette and blew smoke in his direction, he proceeded to tell her what he thought of smoking. She proceeded to tell him what she thought of evangelists! To this very day I am not sure if that injury has ever been healed enough to permit them to have drawn near to Jesus. Adolph Hitler himself was born and baptised into a Catholic Christian family, and sang in the choir as a lad, and even at one time considered taking “holy orders”. One wonders what kind of injury might have occurred that turned him from the Church. Paul Harvey years ago, in the Rest of the Story told of Fidel Castro’s exposure to Christianity, but turned away. There has been rumor in 2012 that he was changing his mind about Jesus and even talked with Pope Benedict about the confession of his sins! All speculation. Only eternity will reveal the damage reckless Christians may have caused unsuspecting Malchuses by our actions. Ruth Graham Bell wrote a poem that pictures such damage:
David Roper tells of encountering a very resistant atheist during his early years of serving in campus ministry. After finally getting close through love and patience he found the root of the problem being that he had been invited as a child to attend Sunday School with a friend who left him waiting all dressed up in his Sunday best, at the curb, and never invited him again, never called to apologize or explain, and planted a deep root of bitterness toward Jesus that created an antagonistic atheist whose opposition to Christ was not from his head, but from his heart. All of us should heed Jesus words to “put our swords back in the sheath” and pray that any harm or hurt we have caused that have maimed unsuspecting unbelievers might be healed by our Lord’s touch an thus undo our harm, and enable them to avoid living out the maimed condition we contributed to. Something indeed for all of us to think and pray about! |