Thought for the week: Our Christian attitudes and virtues must be sound
It almost seems as though every week presently is marked politically with the demise of a politician and his or her related news manager.
In these circumstances, it is increasingly difficult to discover what is fact and what is glossing over fact. To tell honesty from what is presented is the dilemma. Another problem is that the honest politician may be mired by actions of those who are not honest.
Expediency rather than honesty, presentation rather than accessible facts, seems all too sadly to be in vogue. The danger is that the cynicism which affects the ordinary voter can almost wipe out the democracy this country and nation fought for and died for in wars and insurrections.
I was mulling this over in the wake of yet another departure from 10 Downing Street along with several cartoons as to how the resident cat there had survived so many Prime Ministers. It was at that point of almost siding with the simmering cynicism in our body politic that I happened across a Biblical passage which challenged me - and not for the first time.
Mark 8:34-35 - Then, calling the crowd to join his disciples, Jesus said: “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it.”
Jesus is not into slick, highly polished presentation. He spoke straight to people about the costs of following him. It reminds me of Sir Winston Churchill, who during the Second World War offered, people “blood, toil, tears and sweat”.
Living for Christ is the most amazing and wonderful life which we can commend to others. Jesus called people and called them clearly. If they wanted to hang on to their old ways, they could. Jesus, however, was only inviting people who wanted to go on a new journey. They needed to turn their back on their old ways and start all over again.
We miss the point if we think we can simply add on two or three Christian attitudes and virtues to our old way of life. It just can’t work. The Apostle Paul put this very clearly when he wrote: “My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).