15 July 2013 - lost causes

15 July 2013 - lost causes

Yet the more they were oppressed,
the more they multiplied and spread.

The Israelites are peaceable.  They aren't in Egypt in opposition to the Egyptians.  And yet, just by their presence they are a threat in Egypt.  In their blessedness they are divisive.  As Pharaoh treats them thusly and represses them he sees the opposite results to what he expects.  They thrive.  This scares him more.  He increases his cruelty toward them.

Jesus said to his Apostles:
“Do not think that I have come to bring peace upon the earth.
I have come to bring not peace but the sword.

Jesus is similar.  We don't take up the sword ourselves.  We are peaceable because he calls the peacemakers blessed (cf. Mat 5:9).  But the world is threatened by us.  We make the world uncomfortable by pointing to fulfillment beyond ourselves and indeed beyond the world's capacity to deliver.  It is going to respond with oppression.  It even goes so far as violence.  It gives us two options: turn back or go all the way to the cross with Jesus.

Whoever finds his life will lose it,
and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

The world tells us that this is a doomed proposition.  It insists that we seek happiness here and now.  It basically freaks out when it sees us living for heaven.  It freaks out even more when it sees the joy that comes from this life.  It is desperate because it is trying so hard to find its life but sees it slipping away moment to moment.  We are finding a life we don't even have to chase.

This is true unless we turn aside.  The temptation is always present.  We are still buffeted with pain and suffering.  It can narrow our vision.  It can turn us inward.  It can make us start up ultimately doomed DIY happiness projects.  It can steal our joy.  We must remember that our hope is not in ourselves nor our efforts.

Our help is in the name of the LORD,
who made heaven and earth.