Fiction

Romans 15:31-32 ESV

That I may be delivered from the unbelievers in Judea, and that my service for Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints, so that by God’s will I may come to you with joy and be refreshed in your company.

As I look at all the appeals of Paul I this strikes me as most sweet and endearing. Paul has often been someone I have found hard to love. Often in your face, he rubs many people the wrong way, as is evidenced by the different responses to him and Barnabas when they show up in town (only Paul was stoned…). Yet, despite all of this I come to this appeal and I am filled with empathy and my heart softened to this stalwart defender of the faith. With all he has done and will do he asks them to strive in prayer for these things: overcoming opponents, his actions would be acceptable, and he would be refreshed when he visits.

Leading into this text he has asked the church in Rome to STRIVE in prayer for these things. In my humanness it is easy to understand the desire for the enemy to fail and my side to win. Yet, looking at his second section “winning” is simply that he would be “acceptable to the saints.” That is right Paul simply wants the church to see his service as valuable service. The desire for God’s people to judge my service as worthy service is a level of humility I do not normally find in Paul’s letters. His heart is broken and crushed at the thought that the bride of Christ would not find his service and sacrifice acceptable. He begs the Romans to strive with him in prayer that his fears would not be realized.

The indelible pull of the judgment of us and our work is powerful and present. Even today the idea of judgment holds sway of congress, the courts, and the congregation. It is no shock that politicians would care how their work is judged, but the courts are a different matter. Yet, the argument of not being on the “right side of history” has pushed many to the wrong side as they try to hold the tiger by his tail. Supplanting the judgement of God and his people with the judgment of a fictitious future historian/writer.

It is good to know that both sides agree that Judgment Day is coming. The real debate is who will be the judge. What must I do to please him? As thousands do crazy things to get in the Guinness Book of World Records, millions vote for candidates they don’t agree with, all on the hope that they will be part of or do something worth recording in that liberal historian’s record book. Yet, the Christian lives with a different judge. The Christian knows that the immortal judgment of the God of the universe and his bride is far more lasting and assured than any fictitious historian. He has even given the standard to which we will be judged. Praise God he also gives us the alien righteousness to meet the standard!

Let us live to please the Judge and his Bride, and be refreshed. We can let fiction write itself!

Coram Deo