Job LIII

 Given their actions when they first saw Job from afar, we can intuit that his three friends were also men of faith. They may not have reached Job’s level of uprightness, nor were they blameless in God’s eyes as he was, but they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads toward heaven, an act of brokenness and repentance for the time. This practice would later come to be known as an outward sign of mourning, abasement, and repentance, with men having repented in sackcloth and ashes being mentioned in Daniel, Lamentations, Isaiah, and in the case of Jonah, the whole of Nineveh.

These were likely the predecessors or forerunners of what became common practice given the timeline of when the Book of Job likely occurred. Before the books of Moses or the Pentateuch were penned, before the law was given and Moses descended with the tablets, before the tabernacle or tent of meeting was erected, there was Job, a blameless and upright man the likes of which could not be found on the earth.

There’s a reason Job has been relegated to one of those names we dare not speak or topics we dare not delve into in the modern-day church because what happened to him, what he went through, and what God allowed in his life is antithetical to the now tired and overused trope that if you just try to be a good person all good things will flow into your life, so much so that you’ll be looking for a spigot to turn it off only to find there isn’t one.

Your Best Life Now sold eight million copies and was number one for two years straight on the New York Times Self-Help bestseller list. That it was placed on the self-help list rather than Christianity, religion, or theology should tell you everything you need to know about its scriptural integrity, but one look at Job and his life, the trials and travails he went through as one who was blameless and upright before God is all it takes to turn the entire tome into little more than Swiss cheese.

Every day may be a Friday for someone raking in millions by telling people what they want to hear rather than what they need to hear, but as far as equating prosperity, excess, or material overflow with God’s stamp of approval and a vociferous declaration that you too are blameless and upright, a singularity among your fellow man to be looked upon as the pinnacle of spiritual maturity, that way lies danger as for many it becomes a self-fulfilling litmus test of walking in a righteousness they do not possess.

Well, no, I haven’t denied myself since that one time I didn’t order a second dessert, and as far as picking up my cross, I wear silk suits, and they’re very delicate. I’ll follow Jesus if He leads where I intend on going in the first place, if His will is in harmony with my own, and our five-year plans coalesce, but I’ve got stuff. Lots and lots of stuff, and that’s all the proof I need that I’m doing good, walking right, and have the faith to manifest my dreams into reality. When did that become the standard? When did that become the plumb line? When was it that we shifted from humbly walking with the Lord and working out our salvation with fear and trembling to using the trappings of this life as proof of our uprightness?

Some of the more shameless among us will be quick to say that Job didn’t have enough faith because everyone knows it takes faith to activate prosperity, and once it’s activated, continuity of faith is required to keep the gravy train chugging along on its biscuit wheels. They use the same reasoning when it comes to brothers and sisters in Christ who are suffering untold horrors at the hands of evil men, being persecuted to the point of martyrdom. It’s not their lack of faith that keeps them clinging to Jesus, holding fast to their integrity, and trusting in His sovereignty when going through such horrors, and for anyone to make such an egregious claim tells me they don’t have the first clue of what it is to walk by faith, fully trusting in the will of God for their lives.

When is it that we grew so jaded that we will look down upon and condescend to those who are walking in a realm of faith that few of us can even conceive? I’ve never been called upon to lay down my life, not just hypothetically, but in actuality, nor have I had to endure the loss of everything, but I have enough humility to look upon such individuals as examples to aspire to rather than cautionary tales I should avoid.

There he goes again, beating up on American Christianity. That you call it Christianity is in and of itself generous beyond what I am willing to allow, but beyond that, it’s not just an American problem; it’s a contemporary Christianity the world over problem, with the exception of nations where there is active, and ongoing persecution of the church. Such nations may not have plush seating, air-conditioned sanctuaries, or pastors bragging about their newest Rolex acquisition, but they do have something the others don’t, which is the power and presence of God.

They walk into a service or a prayer meeting fully aware that it may be their last time, or even their last day, accepting the reality that they may have to suffer or even die for the fellowship others dismiss and are indifferent toward. It’s not that they’re better believers, but they are undoubtedly more committed to the way of Christ, given that their faith costs them something tangible every time they boldly declare that they are willing to pay the price and incur the wrath of the godless by the outwardly demonstration of the faith burning in their hearts.

A man can only give away what he already possesses. This goes for truth, money, a cup of water, or a hot meal. If you don’t have it to give, then you don’t have it to give, and you’ll give what you have. When the lame man asked Peter and John for alms as they were about to walk into the temple, Peter said to him, “Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.”

Peter knew what he had. He knew what he possessed and willingly gave it to the lame man, taking him by the hand and lifting him up. We cannot expect certain preachers to give us what they don’t have. If the truth is not in them, if they are not walking in it, then they cannot give it to another. If, to them, faith is merely a quaint notion but not an active, living, substantive, ever-present reality, then they can never understand how true faith can stretch and carry an individual beyond the point of their physical strength, giving them the capacity to endure what most would call impossible. That’s why they avoid the Book of Job like the plague or someone with a cough and a scratchy throat.

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.