"As they passed the rows of houses they saw through the open doors that men were sweeping and dusting and washing dishes, while the women sat around in groups, gossiping and laughing.
"What has happened?" the Scarecrow asked a sad-looking man with a bushy beard, who wore an apron and was wheeling a baby-carriage along the sidewalk.
"Why, we've had a revolution, your Majesty -- as you ought to know very well," replied the man; "and since you went away the women have been running things to suit themselves. I'm glad you have decided to come back and restore order, for doing housework and minding the children is wearing out the strength of every man in the Emerald City."
"Hm!" said the Scarecrow, thoughtfully. "If it is such hard work as you say, how did the women manage it so easily?"
"I really do not know," replied the man, with a deep sigh. "Perhaps the women are made of cast-iron.""
- L. Frank Baum, "The Land of Oz"
Saturday, October 25, 2008
For we do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, of our trouble which came to us in Asia: that we were burdened beyond measure, above strength, so that we despaired even of life itself. Yes, we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead, who delivered us from so great a death, and does deliver us; in whom we trust that He will still deliver us ...
-- 2 Corinthians 1:8-10
I shared Paul's astounding words to the Corinthians with someone this morning, and oh how they resonate with me.
I'm always comforted to know that the biblical writers were as human as I am. Peter cut off a guy's ear, denied JESUS three times, and still walked with God to the point of death. According to Christian history he was hung on a cross upside down because he did not believe he was worthy to die in the same manner as the Lord. Paul (who wrote the letters to the Corinthians) considered himself the chief of sinners, and flat out admitted his sinful struggles in Romans 7:19: "For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice." At the end of it all, Paul said, "For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith" (2 Timothy 4:6 & 7).
I once heard John Piper exclaim -- "How I hate the prosperity gospel!" I hate it too, because it takes our eyes off of the Man of Sorrows (Isaiah 53:3), and it makes us think that the Christian life is the fast track to wealth, as if fiscal liquidity is the panacea for life.
The Gospel of Grace (Acts 20:24) is the true prosperity gospel, because it upends our "you get what you pay for" paradigm, and ushers us into the presence of the Son of God -- JESUS, who is the Christ. It takes sinners like me, and, despite my unbelief (Mark 9:24), gives me the riches of His glory and the pleasure of His presence, even when I despair of life itself.
Solus Christus.
[Also posted on my personal blog.]
Thanks for sharing this. Reading this has made me full of awe toward Christ. I need to be in this state of mind more often.