Paul was writing to prepare us to face great powers of evil. He envisioned a spiritual warfare between Christians and very personal forces of evil. Christians being crucified and thrown to the lions. But those days are over. Is there a message in this book for us? Do we face the same quality of evil in our day?
There are plenty of forces that threaten to pull us off the track. Young people have it the hardest. Teenagers have an almost desperate need to be accepted. So when someone says, "Hey, come on man," it isn't easy to resist. It isn't easy to "Just Say No." And it doesn't get easy. It isn't easy for adults either.
It's one thing to stay in here, and be the church where hymns are sung, and hugs are given, and hope is proclaimed. But what about out there? What about where living is dangerous, or when the values of our faith collide with the values of the world? How then shall we live?
Perched between a cruel sea and a hostile shore, the Pilgrims paused in their struggle to survive to set aside a special day of thanks. In these uncertain times, let's follow that example of sustaining faith. Let's make a special effort to acknowledge God's gifts, great and small --giving thanks for his blessings and placing our confidence in his goodness.
First, Paul says, "Watch carefully." I certainly have a new appreciation for those words after the wreck. When you have driven for 40 years without a wreck, as I had, you begin to assume you can drive your way out of any dangerous situation.
"Hurry Sickness is defined as a "modern malady caused by rushing about: a compulsion to do everything quickly, or a chronic feeling of being short of time, attributed to the fast pace of modern life and causing symptoms such as anxiety and insomnia" (Encarta - Dictionary).
Paul sums up that very idea in verse 8 when he says, "For you were once darkness, but are now light in the Lord. Walk as children of light."Notice that this reference does not say, "You were IN darkness" but rather "You WERE darkness." Jesus put the idea this way in Luke 11:34.
See, if I found the most perfect greeting card that managed to say everything I wanted to say and expressed it in a beautiful, classy, funny way . . . it wouldn't mean one single bit unless Mark could look back over the last 15 years of his life and ALREADY KNOW WHAT I MEANT.
Because the Church consists of flawed and sinful people like us, there will always be disputes, disagreements and differences of opinion in the Church. It's not a sin to disagree! It's not ungodly to hold a position different from your neighbor, or your friends, or your spouse, or your pastor.
As the Apostle uses it, "grace" means "gift." And gift which never turns into possession. Nothing we can commandeer, take control of. It is perpetual gift. Like life itself. Hard to accept that, bathed as we are in a culture that exalts the autonomous individual.