“Recall
the former days in which, after you were illuminated, you endured a great
struggle with sufferings; partly while you were made a spectacle both by
reproaches and tribulations, and partly while you became companions of those
who were so treated; for you had compassion on me in my chains, and joyfully
accepted the plundering of your goods, knowing you have a better and an
enduring possession for yourselves in heaven. Therefore do not cast away
your confidence, which has great reward.” Hebrews 10:32-35
Especially
for teenagers, I suppose, there is nothing more challenging than to take a
stand for The Lord; not just to proclaim one’s own justification but to
actually distance oneself from that former circle of friends. It is a virtual
guarantee that young people will endure “great struggles” to become someone
whom The Lord will be pleased with will take a lot of ribbing from the old
friends who do not understand the transformation which has taken place.
And it becomes necessary in many cases to take that deliberate step away from a
former life when one’s old friends put forth much more effort to ‘change you
back’.
It
is not always the overt challenges, however, that are the greater threat.
Sometimes the threats we face are more subtle and much more insidious. It
will not always be direct attacks that challenge our newfound faith.
Rather there will those waiting in the wings to see if our transformation is
genuine, if our new allegiance will last. They’re not hoping for the best
for the new convert; rather they are hoping for something to laugh at,
something to prove to themselves that there is no such thing as such a
transformation. Even those who may come to your defense will do so at
their own risk, “joyfully accepting the plundering of [their] goods”; their
reputation, their social standing.
The
writer had endured such things himself and had watched as those to whom he was
writing had come to his defense at the risk of their own “goods”. He
reminded them, however, that the risk in this life is small compared to the
“enduring possession” waiting for those who persevere in faith. It was
not easy for them, of course, because they literally faced threats to their
mortal lives. Yet the threats we sometimes face cut even deeper when we
are ostracized and criticized for our ‘hypocrisy’.
It
is never easy to face down those threats, and standing firm in the faith is
made even more difficult when we decide we and our children are better off
without the Church. You see, it is not simply about going to
church that makes the Church what our Lord requires; it is entirely about being
the Church especially for those who need the strength of the community to
endure the many challenges we will all certainly face. And it is only the
Church that will take the time to remind us of the “enduring possession” that
will one day be ours.
We
should see, then, that being engaged in the life of the Church is not about
what we can gain for ourselves. It is about those who need us to
encourage them, to support them, to strengthen them. When we walk away
from the Church, we are not walking away from the Institution or the preacher;
we are walking away from those who need us most. It could also be that
our abandonment of the Church means that those who accuse us of “hypocrisy”
have finally drawn blood; they hit where it really hurts when we care more
about pleasing them and getting them off our backs than we care about Christ
and His Church.
We
must all stand firm together, for that is where our strength lies; in Christ’s
Body the Church, the “ekklesia”, the congregation of the faithful who endure
the very same challenges, “for the days are evil” (Ephesians
5:16).
Blessings,
Michael
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