Tonight, my heart is so grieved by the death of our Egyptian brothers. I cannot sleep and I cannot help but question the relevancy of the Christian faith. In the times preceding our own we have seen the rise and fall of cultures, religions and entire ways of life. Throughout all of these ages of humanity, people have been willing to die for what they believe in. To our Egyptian brothers, Christ was everything. In their moment, there was no entertainment, no relativism, no philosophical inquiry, no argument about true doctrine nor criticisms of their fellow Christians. There was only life or death and they would not denounce Christ. In our western culture, the Christian is so consumed with everything other than Christ and I wonder if our actions imply that we believe Christ-centered worldview has lost its relevance. By no means! We all must choose between life or death and my hope is, for the sake of the Gospel, we choose to die to ourselves that God may grant us life forevermore. Consider the pilgrim’s journey:
Christian stood up after asking the Father to save him from the power of sin and death. He was now a new creation and the Father had given him a new name. He was completely different, like a canvas with a new coat of paint or an alien in a new land. Everything about his new life was different and exciting. Christian’s mind was being transformed and his heart made whole, but there was one problem Christian noticed about his new self. He had been given a heart that grieved over the alien world that he was in. He wanted so deeply to reach out to that world, but he no longer understood it. His company was righteous and rarely did he reach out to the unrighteous because he no longer understood their way of life.
As time passed, Christian noticed that the gap between the righteous and the unrighteous had grown wider. There was now a great chasm between the two and he felt responsible because he had kept company with only the righteous. The unrighteous had grown to love the dark and not only avoided the light, but did what they could to extinguish it. Christian felt responsible, so he crossed the chasm hoping that the light might be seen and that a greater number might be added to the ranks of the righteous.
The first town he came to was named Enticement. It seemed to be the town with which the kingdom of darkness dressed itself. It was a beautiful town and on the street was a woman named Prostitute. Prostitute greeted Christian and welcomed him to the town. “Can I show you around?” She asked in a well-mannered sort of way.
“Yes,” answered Christian, “I am actually feeling quite hungry after my journey. Might you show me where I can get something to eat?”
Prostitute smiled, “Certainly, follow me.”
Enticement did not seem so bad to Christian. He did not understand why the chasm was so wide. The people here seemed happy enough. He knew that people were better off on the righteous side of the chasm, but at this point could not imagine why. Surely there was a reason for the existence of the chasm and surely deliverance to righteousness would mean something for the people of not only Enticement, but the other cities located on this side of the great divide.
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To be continued…
andrew paul cannon 