Take Your Pick

Hebrews 11:13-16
All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country — a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.

I don't watch TV (let alone the religious ones) enough to be certain, but if I were a betting man I'd stake a stack of pennies that this scripture passage from Hebrews does not feature frequently in those glitzy shows with pretty people flogging a health and wealth gospel.

- God wants you rich.
- God can help you be successful.
- God can let you die before he delivers on his promises to you.

Hmmmm.

Per Sesame Street, one of these claims is not like the others. The last one comes from the book of Hebrews. I cannot speak for the provenance of the first two.

Oh, people can (and do) throw out verses to defend the first two options. How about this one?

John 16:23b
Very truly I tell you, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.

I know that one gets good coverage on TV. So... I need only ask God for comforts and riches (all to be used in good ways, to be sure!) and God will not withhold from me these blessings? Sounds great! Sign me up.

Ah, the joys of verses taken out of context. Only a few verses later (in verse 33) Jesus notes, "In this world you will have trouble."

How is it that will we have troubles if we can have anything we ask for? What does Jesus mean?

A fair question.

I'm not a Bible scholar, and it's too late at night for any serious rookie scholarship work on Google. That said, I have the strong suspicion that there is a little fine print involved here. And the fine print says that Jesus has an opinion about those who belong to him. One salient characteristic is that they do not ask for what the world clamours for. Jesus knows that his own yearn for something else.

What?

Well, let's look again at the whole of verse 33.

John 16:33
“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

Peace.

What else? What else defines those who belong to Jesus?

A closer scrutiny of chapters 16 and 17 in John extend the list. Joy. Hope. Unity. Sanctification.

And a sense of Alienation — yes, Alienation with a capital A. Alienation from a world they no longer belong to.

John 17:16
They are not of the world, even as I am not of it.

I guess the rambling conclusion of this wandering reflection is this: We must take our pick.

Will we be Alienated from?

From Peace?

Or from the world and its desires?

I have had very little Peace today. I think I was pretty focused on worldly worries today. No fluke, that. Today I picked poorly.

But tomorrow, by God's grace, I can do better.

God, make me an alien in this world. A native in the Kingdom of God.