Job LXXVII

 Job 3:20-26, “Why is light given to him who is in misery, and lie to the bitter soul, who long for death, but it does not come, and search for it more than hidden treasures; Who rejoice exceedingly, and are glad when they can find the grave? Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden and whom God has hedged in? For my sighing comes before I eat, and my groanings pour out like water. For the thing I greatly feared has come upon me, and what I dreaded has happened to me. I am not at ease, nor am I quiet; I have no rest, for trouble comes.”

We’ve all had some version of the worst-case scenario play on a loop in the back of our minds. Some of us are better at controlling the impulse to freefall into the hypothetical landscape of what the worst day of our lives might look like, while others spend their lives mapping out ever more horrendous scenarios.

I do not live in fear of what may be tomorrow because the God I serve, the Lord and King of my life, is already there making a way for me. Some men are crippled by the fear of what may be or what could be, to the point that they remain static, unmoving, making no progress in their spiritual walk or growing their spiritual man.

I’ve been living with the reality of imminent judgment for forty years now. It is a truth the harbingers of which we are seeing play out before our eyes. Had I allowed fear to dictate my actions, I’d still be digging a spider hole in the backyard and making sure it’s well stocked and ready to be moved into. Fear of tomorrow has no place in the heart of a follower of Christ. Your life is forfeit; it is no longer yours to do as you will, but His to do with as He wills. I can no more control the course my life takes than I can control the course of the Mississippi River.

My singular priority is obedience. If by my obedience I incur the wrath of the godless, so be it. If by my obedience I suffer the loss of material things, so be it. My duty to God isn’t to navigate my way through life in such a way that I don’t ruffle the devil’s feathers or put a target on my back. It is to stand firm on the truth of Scripture, even if it means losing everything.

It’s a sad day indeed when men whose singular responsibility is to rightly divide the Word omit salvific truth for fear of reprisal. Had those of the early church shared this mindset, it never would have gotten off the ground. Rather than come together and pray for boldness, the disciples would have called a meeting to see how they could best appease the Pharisees so as not to be dragged into prison and beaten again.

Acknowledge, accept, and make your peace with the reality that there is a cost to speaking the truth. Understanding that there is a cost, your next step will be your willingness to pay it, full freight, the whole tab, no layaways, discounts, or twelve easy monthly payments. Some men commit to the way, never being told of the cost required but only about the benefits they will incur. If you get someone to raise a hand at a crusade or attend a church under false pretenses, making false promises that will never materialize, not only will they eventually relapse into their old ways, but there will be a layer of bitterness that wraps around their heart because even though they were paying their tithe, their acne didn’t clear, their truck didn’t stop making that weird noise, and their dog didn’t make it past the fifteen-year mark, as promised.

The road is hard, the way is narrow, the enemy is real, trials are ever present, temptations abound, hardships are a given, and being hated and maligned for His name’s sake is par for the course. There’s even a good chance you will be martyred for the sake of Christ at some point in the near future. That’s what you’re signing up for, and anyone who tells you differently is trying to soften the blow in the hope of getting you to sign on.

You can’t trick people into heaven. This isn’t like selling a timeshare where you fail to inform the buyer that their children and their children’s children will be on the hook forevermore and that the low cost is just an introductory offer that expires in six months.

But we need new blood. Most of our attendees won’t be around in ten years, and we have more funerals than baby dedications in our church in a given month. We need to do something to get the numbers up. Lying to people about what they should expect once they receive their membership packet isn’t the way to do it, though.

Rather than try to bait and switch someone into coming to church, why not try something that’s been proven every time it was implemented? Fast and pray as a body, cry out to God for more of Him, stand on the truth of the Gospel without being swayed by sentiment or shifting cultural norms, and declare the name of Jesus as the only way, the only truth, and the only life. Jesus should never be relegated to the position of an extra or someone with a walk-on role whenever we need to pump up the offering numbers. He must be the message, the focus, the one individual whose presence is indispensable every time you come together in fellowship. The permanence of Christ as the head of the body, the chief cornerstone, the Good Shepherd, the risen Lord, and the soon-coming King is non-negotiable.

A congregation can lack talented praise and worship teams, comfortable seating, children’s programs, and even a charismatic preacher, but if they have Jesus, they have everything they need. If, however, Jesus is absent, no matter how structured, well-organized, stylized, and glamorous, they are, by Christ’s own words, wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked. Those in the latter category can pretend to be something other than empty and hollow, but when the rubber meets the road, their true nature is exposed for all to see.  

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.