A few weeks ago, upon returning from a trip to see the damage in Haiti, my pastor had words along these lines: "I'll tell you what happened in Haiti if you'll tell me what happened here. I'll tell you stories about how God used me in Haiti if you'll tell me stories about how God used you in Dallas. If you don't have a story about how God has been working, you've been off-task. Next week I'll have stories to tell about how God has used me in the earthquake that has hit Dallas - the earthquake of distraction, self-indulgence, lostness and apathy."
With eternity in view, Dallas (New York as well) may be a more dangerous place to live than Haiti. 10,000 years from now, which earthquake seems greater - that of phyisical destruction or that of distraction, self-indulgence, lostness and apathy? The Plain of Ease, as CS Lewis calls it, is a dangerous place to live.
This comes to mind as I read from I Corinthians 4 this morning. Paul is speaking to the wealthy, distracted church in Corinth:
Already you have all you want! Already you have become rich! Without us you have become kings! And would that you did reign, so that we might share the rule with you! 9 For I think that God has exhibited us apostles as last of all, like men sentenced to death, because we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men. 10 We are fools for Christ's sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are held in honor, but we in disrepute. 11 To the present hour we hunger and thirst, we are poorly dressed and buffeted and homeless, 12 and we labor, working with our own hands. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; 13 when slandered, we entreat. We have become, and are still, like the scum of the world, the refuse of all things.
14 I do not write these things to make you ashamed, but to admonish you as my beloved children. 15 For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel. 16 I urge you, then, be imitators of me. 17 That is why I sent you Timothy, my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, to remind you of my ways in Christ, as I teach them everywhere in every church. 18 Some are arrogant, as though I were not coming to you. 19 But I will come to you soon, if the Lord wills, and I will find out not the talk of these arrogant people but their power. 20 For the kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power. 21 What do you wish? Shall I come to you with a rod, or with love in a spirit of gentleness?
From my study notes: These contrasts between the apostles and the Corinthians clarify the differences in their conditions. Natural men thought the apostles were fools, but they were willing to suffer this judgement for Christ's sake. The Corinthians and others, on the other hand, regarded themselves as prudent in their behavior as Christians. To the naturally wise the apostles looked weak, but the Corinthians appeared strong. They looked distinguished while the apostles seemed to be dishonorable.
