For His Eyes Only

The main reason why children of God make it to Him at the end of their journeys on earth is because they were always His from the start. This is not often the case. There was once a time when to be a Christian was to take upon oneself the cross, a symbol of the outcast and the untouchable. Such a decision would make your close friends of a different time question your sanity or your will to live a good life. Because there was nothing socially acceptable about choosing this past Jewish convict condemned to die on a tree as your Lord and Master. Only, you knew Who it was Who had called you, you heard His voice and you knew He was indeed Lord of all, and with no choice else, you answered, leaving all to follow Him. And here was the promise He afforded you when you began to follow Him, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’ Through the disgrace and infamy, the misunderstandings and defamations, the hatred and the spite, of all men, He would remain by your side. And so He did for countless sheep who He led home.

But then, things changed soon enough. The faith became legalized in the empire and all of a sudden, it was frowned upon by men to be a non-Christian. In a strange turn of events, to be a Christian afforded you good grace before people of great import in society, baptism was a societal initiation ritual, you could now be a card-carrying believer. And the matter of the living of the faith in the Son of God who loved and gave himself for them fell to the background. Men began to be the judges of their fellows' religion. The life of the unseen man mattered much less for most of those who claimed to be sheep of his pasture. And of course, these often included wolves and bears disguised as members of the body.

I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock…

Yet Jesus had warned about this when he spoke to the Jews on the mountain. When he came with his new and improved laws for holiness and godliness, he spoke of the religion of the Pharisees and scribes as being the highest bar to only barely escape the judgment of God’s wrath. You see, this was not a new thing, this distortion of godliness by the commands and rites of men. It is so often the case among men that they forget the laws given from God to cater instead to the wants of their fellow men, playing the act for the eyes that would soon go blind with age. Why? Because it was much more gratifying to their own lusts. Their lusts for approval, for promotion, for secret indulgence, for glory in this world. For good graces from fallen creatures.

‘We do not know what has happened to this man who led us out of Egypt, make us a god to lead us.’

"This Jesus you told us of, I don’t know where he is, and I am yet to see him improve my living situation. Dare I say, this is not what I signed up for. Do you perhaps have any other god in that heart of yours that will get me my best life while I’m still alive enough to enjoy it?" And just so, another one bits the dust, falling for the wiles of the fierce wolves that spare not the simple flock. And you could hear them if only you had ears, you could taste their rotten fruits if you had taste buds. Alas, your desire was never to be loved by the One whom you could not see, was it?

And it becomes my own temptation too. Very much so, I think enough of just what those who know me think of my way of life, of this choices I have made in answer to the Call, the absurd sacrifices on the altar, the pieces of the alabaster box. Would He remember me in this life? Would He vindicate me before their eyes? Would He put me in right standing with the men of this age? And so I must call my heart to attention. Who is my religion, the essence of my devotion? What would I die for? What would I dare to give up and what for? Am I so quickly enamored of the smiles and head-pats of the grownups? Is it all becoming so blurry and grey so easily?

Well, the Lord was never afraid of drawing his line in the sand. Once, a very respectable young man came to him before his disciples to enlist in his number. The disciples might have expected a much different answer than what he gave.

‘If you would be complete, meet for this company, go sell your belongings and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come follow me.’

The young man could not bring himself to do this and walked away. The price for this highest form of respectability he sought for was all other sorts of respectability he had previously boasted of. One of the astonished disciples then asked in desperation, ‘See, we have left everything and followed you. What will there be for us?'

Jesus said to them, Truly I tell you, in the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields because of my name will receive a hundred times more and will inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last and the last first.