Reformed Reflections

A French perfume maker currently sells its fragrance to the English-speaking market under the byline "Life is best played by your own script." This existentialist term displays the typical mood of many modern people. This view of life comes across as "do your own thing," "just be," "follow your dream," or "I am in charge of my own destiny." But a life played by one's own script is a life without direction. Each person has to create then his or her own meaning. Christians live by the script of heaven. Our Christian hope may not make us careless. When we are invited to a wedding, we get the proper attire for the occasion. As the bride of Christ, the Church pays special attention to her wedding garments. And she wants to know how she should act as a bride in preparation for the heavenly wedding banquet. Here we have a close connection between our heavenly hope and our daily living. The psalmist confessed: " I am a stranger on earth," but at the same time he prayed the Lord, "do not hide your commands from me"(Ps.119: 19). As pilgrims on the way to our heavenly homeland we ask the Lord to show us His commands. They are God's travel guides for us, the road map which we must follow so that we can make our way home despite all the obstacles we come across. The apostle Paul urges God's people "to live lives worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory"(1 Thess.2: 12). In our culture, which has jettisoned its Christian heritage, it presents a greater challenge than in the past. We are called to exhibit a consistent Christian lifestyle while we tenaciously oppose the rapid advance of secularism and paganism into our communities. We must distance ourselves from the norms and life styles dictated by the world around us. If we don't, we will lose our credibility and integrity. We are called to a life of yielding to God, to daily self-consecration and prayer. In our zeal for orthodoxy we may not grieve the Spirit by neglecting the reality of practical godliness. I am not contending for an Anabaptist version of world denial. The Gospel is public truth. Our Christian faith is not a private hobby making it socially irrelevant. In the midst of our cultural wars we must boldly engage the world with the proclamation: Jesus is Lord over all of life. For example, we care for the poor, provide shelter for the homeless and seek justice for the exploited. We are neither capitalists nor socialists in our search for justice. Ultimately, the antithesis is not between the poor and the rich but between righteousness and unrighteousness, between holiness and sinfulness. The script of heaven has its own demands for the rich and the poor, employer and employee. They must find each other before the face of God, show mutual respect and work toward reconciliation in the work place instead of confrontation. We are always held accountable to God for what we do and say. Which script do we follow? Our own or the Lord's?

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