Plus Eighty
I am a Christian…and a first-generation American. My parents didn’t come here seeking religious freedom; they came seeking financial opportunity. Nevertheless, I am a beneficiary of the First Amendment liberties upon which this nation was founded – chief among those being the freedom to worship God without government interference.
Now I’m not one to argue that our Founding Fathers were devout Christians (I would even say that some of them engaged in some explicitly anti-biblical practices), but they did understand that protecting the right of people to worship freely was essential to securing the “blessings of liberty” spoken of in the preamble to our Constitution. They, even the ones outside the spectrum of orthodox Christianity, were willing to pay a high price to ensure the adoption of the Constitution with the Bill of Rights intact.
The question is, what has their posterity done with the right to worship and express their faith freely…and publicly?
I struggle with this, as I’m not sure my expression of Christianity is worthy of the price paid by so many over the history of this nation, to say nothing of the price paid by Jesus Christ Himself. Christians in America have supplanted liberty and its attendant responsibilities with laziness and its attendant apathy.
My friend Arthur calls this the American “cult of comfort.” Sure, we move in and out of difficulties. But as soon as we get out of any particular hardship – be it spiritual, political, or personal – we coast along, exerting only as much effort as is required to keep us out of trouble. Arthur uses a number line to illustrate the point, which is helpful for linear thinkers like me (sometimes I wish I were less left brain).
Let’s say someone is going through an existential crisis,wondering why she is here on this planet and what will happen to her when she dies. That could represent a minus fifty on a two hundred point scale that spans from minus one hundred to plus one hundred. Just getting to zero – i.e., no anxiety about the future – might be a huge relief. If, in the course of her crisis, she meets Jesus and has an understand of God’s direction for her life on earth as well as a sense of anticipation, rather than dread, about seeing Him face to face in heaven, she may be at plus twenty or thirty. Life is good. And most of us are simply content to stay on the plus side of the number line. No need to wander too far from zero.
But there is more. So much more.
The challenge is that getting from plus twenty to plus eighty requires you to make an about face and march headlong into the land of hurt that you are so relieved to have finally behind you (or so you thought). To move across the number line to the place of your inheritance – your birthright – you must be willing to embrace a certain amount of pain. And face it, our culture is obsessed with avoiding pain.
It wasn’t always that way. The Founders willingly took on a good deal of pain when they published the Declaration of Independence, knowing the British would view it as a declaration of war and respond accordingly. America had prospered under British authority. She had enjoyed the security provided by Her Majesty’s warships. But, ultimately, the destiny of America could not be fulfilled as long as she was subject to the crown of Britain.
And so it is with us…with me, at least. I cannot continue to live in the realm of contentment and get to where I believe God wants me to be. I can’t live the kind of life that is reflected by God worshipers in the New and Old Testament by maintaining the status quo. It’s time to up the ante. Kick it up a notch. Not sure what that’s going to look like just yet, but I’m packing my bags for the journey.
