Christian Living

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Larry Lilly's Letter Tuesday April 28, 2009

I recently read about an upstanding family in a small community who lived for the approval of the rest of the village society. A reporter from an upstate large newspaper interviewed the family and one of his questions was, "Who is most famous person on your family tree and what did they do to achieve this fame?"

When the article was published the rest of villagers went ballistic when they read this paragraph concerning their most famous former resident:

"Uncle George occupied The Chair of Applied Electronics at an important government institution. He was attached to his position by the strongest of ties and his death came as a real shock."

Many folks who read the blurb were impressed that such an accomplished man had lived in the tiny village by the river. They were appalled by the outrage of the rest villagers until they discovered that the reporter, at the insistence of the family had told the truth, though with a spin that would have done former President Bush or the current President Obama well.

The above bolded phrase was the varnish put on the fact that Uncle George had suffered electrocution at the hands of the state in the electric chair.

My phrase, "Larry lived in an exclusive gated community" pales to mere insignificance by comparison.

The Apostle Paul made no such varnished pretentions at personal righteousness when he wrote concerning himself in 2 Corinthians 11:23-27:

"Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool) I am more; in labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft. Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep; In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness."

He makes it plain that all of his deeds were NOT carried out in proclaiming the truth of Christ, but quite the opposite in that he used his many gifts in attempts to stamp out the followers of Christ as he states in Acts 26:10:

"Which thing I also did in Jerusalem: and many of the saints did I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priests; and when they were put to death, I gave my voice against them."

That the Apostle "led with his scars" is beyond refutation and we can learn that the most effective style of living is to embrace the forgiveness purchased by Christ on Calvary and regardless of those who oppose us, simply go on living for Jesus having accepted his forgiveness and rejoicing that all who do such are "Accepted in the beloved."

Larry Lilly Copyright © 2009 Use with credit.,

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