Monday, August 30, 2010

Eutychus Goes to College

Today we find our beloved hero, Eutychus, enrolling in college. This is quite a new experience for our friend, Eutychus. Higher education is different today that the first century. Eutychus had some major surprises ahead.

Eutychus met with an enrollment counselor. This was supposed to get Eutychus all "fixed up and ready to go."

Counselor: "So, Son, are you ready for school to start?" Eutychus: "You bet, ready to go." Counselor: "Great, let's get started. First, let's get some classes arranged, then we will go over the rules of college life here at Politically Correct University, or PCU. You will, of course, take the required class on Tolerance; this is required for all students at PCU. We must be tolerant of all people and all beliefs."

Eutychus: "Sounds good. We should be tolerant of each other in love. By the way, is there a Christian Bible study on campus." Counselor (grimacing like he was gut-shot): "O no, we can't be tolerant of that; that is most intolerable!"

Eutychus (his forehead wrinkled with confusion): "I thought you said...never mind." Counselor: "Now, let's get on to one of your classes. We need to enroll you in the 'All cultures are good except Western culture' class." Eutychus: "But isn't that contradictory to say all cultures are good except...?" Counselor (with a smirk): "You are new here, and it is obvious you need to be educated, so I will let this pass. But, son, you need to understand that the obvious reason for the degeneracy of the entire world is based on the American Christian culture, probably a hold over from the Puritanical ramblings of early Christians. You will soon learn that the reason for all the world's problems is conservative Christian American middle class culture. The answer to every problem is liberal compassion, kindness, and understanding which needs to be tyrannically forced on all people, for their own good."

Eutychus was really confused now. He stammered, "But isn't your viewpoint just a biased and baseless way to manipulate others and force your worldview upon them? Isn't that intolerant?" The Counselor was a bit miffed, and said, "I can see you are going to need remedial training before we can enroll you into the 'Make Everyone Like Us' curriculum." Counselor: "Let's just start you with a simple class - Learning to be Tolerant of the Intolerably Tolerant and Learning to be Intolerant of the Intolerably Tolerably Intolerant." Eutychus let out a sigh; it was going to be a long semester.

The Great Unseen Reality

1 Samuel 23:14 "David stayed in the wilderness in the strongholds, and remained in the hill country in the wilderness of Ziph. And Saul sought him every day, but God did not deliver him into his hand."

If we could interview David during the time when he had to flee from Saul's threat, we may not find a man full of faith and confidence. WE: "How are things going, David?" David: "OK, I guess." WE: "You don't sound very sure." David: "Well, to be honest, everything seems to be going to pot in my life. I have to run for my life every day, because Saul is determined to kill me. I can't let my guard down at all; every day I am on pins and needles watching carefully for an attack from Saul. I sometimes wonder if God is watching over me."

But Saul did not catch David, though he got a close a time or two (See 1 Samuel 23:26). Why? Why could Saul not catch David? The answer is found in our text: "God did not deliver him into his hands." God was orchestrating all the circumstances in David's life. God was protecting David. No matter how much appeared to be against David, God was planning David's life. There was so much unseen reality in support of David that David could not observe.

This is true in every Christian's life. This is the great iceberg of the Christian experience. Just like only a tip of the iceberg appears above water, and so much of the iceberg is below the water, so there is so much behind the scenes in a Christian's experience. God is watching over us, protecting us, strengthening and blessing us in ways we cannot fathom. God is achieving His plan and purpose through us. And so much of all this is beyond the scope of our vision.

This is where faith comes in. As God's children we must believe that God is working for us and on our behalf. We must believe that God is causing all things to work for our good and His glory. We must trust God when we cannot see His hand.

No matter what you face today, God is working for you. God is working to make His will happen, no matter what anyone else does or doesn't do. That is the Great Unseen Reality of God's will for your life.