It wakes us up and makes us dress spiritually for the winter battles. That kind of talk from prison is like a stiff, wakening winter wind in the face of our drowsy, television-soaked, self-pitying kind of Christianity. When asked about the possibility of being hanged he said, "I will kiss my rope, but will never deny my faith." 1 He was a paraplegic and confined to a wheelchair. The power we feel when we hear Richard Wurmbrand tell us of Tahir Iqbal, a Muslim convert to Christianity who was imprisoned December 7, 1990, in Lahore, Pakistan, and died in prison July 19 this year. That's the power Paul wants to put behind these words. There is something very powerful about a testimony from prison where your life is at stake. It will lead to an opportunity for your testimony. They will lay their hands on you and will persecute you, delivering you to the synagogues and prisons, bringing you before kings and governors for my name's sake. Jesus had given many warnings that following him was safe in the long run and dangerous in the short run. Real, radical Christianity is risky and unpopular and dangerous. It is not a nice, middle class way to solve your problems and be comfortable. Writing from prison means that what he writes is dangerous. The Worth of Walking Worthy of Our Calling Walking worthy of our Christian calling (the calling to glory and everlasting joy with Christ) is worth being imprisoned for and worth dying for. Why do you think Paul starts this section by calling attention to the fact that he is a prisoner? "I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, entreat you to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord." I think the answer is that he wants them to feel the truth that it is worth it. There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all. I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, entreat you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing forbearance to one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
0 kommentar(er)
