Being, Doing and Fighting

December 31st, 2012 by Jasmine Obeyesekere Fernando

Reading through the gospel of Mark, I was drawn to the reasons that Jesus chose the twelve apostles;  “that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach and to have authority to drive out demons.”  (Mk 3: 14-15) How seriously do we who follow Jesus today consider this same  three- fold charge?

It seems that we must first intentionally carve out time to “be with him.” This is a challenge in a frenzied world, where we generally have more things to do than time to do it. This is a challenge because we are afraid that if we slow down and spend serious time with God, that we will not be able to get our daily to-do lists done. Its a challenge because we are afraid of being alone with God, we are too used to the other noise that we surround ourselves with. This is a challenge to the activists among us who want to make a tangible difference in the real world,  stopping to pray &  engage with the Scriptures seem to be a  luxury we can ill afford.

Feel like you’ve been running on the steam of your past experiences with God? Or just caught up in the energy/ excitement of your small group but feel that a personal dynamic is missing? Perhaps its time to deliberately and expectantly make space for God and allow him to surprise us by speaking to us and rejuvenating our flagging spirits.

I wonder if the order of the charge is important? First the Being; the food for the soul, the personal nurture by God himself. As we take time to ‘Become’ – allowing God to transform us from the inside out, we are equipped to be the ’sent’ ones. To go out and do stuff in his name. To be the Doers.

Sometimes it is spending that ‘unproductive’ time that gives us the clarity to figure out what things to prioritize in our ‘do’ lists and which things (even important ones) to cross out.  It keeps us focused and helps us not to have angst about the good stuff we are not involved in right now. It prevents us from getting stressed about what others will think of us too!

This quiet time with God is also a time for shedding our other identities – the self- importance we have because of our qualifications and achievements and people’s perceptions of us. It can be a challenge when we have the training, experience and aptitude to be strategic thinkers – to get off the driver’s seat and allow God to bring things to our attention, perhaps change course as a result.

Out of our dynamic relationship with God our Father, Redeemer and Friend flows our works of service. We are the “sent” ones to witness to Jesus. This can be daunting to those of us who prefer a quiet life. We might prefer to worship God through music and song and  go right on doing our usual routine at home, work and even church. There doesn’t seems to be any getting around the fact though, that we are supposed to proclaim and demonstrate the good news of the  arrival of the King.

How do we proclaim that God’ s rule has begun to invade planet earth? Look for natural openings to talk to people about Christ. Deal well with people. What kind of reputation do you have? Do people  know that you don’t gossip about other people behind their backs and so be reasonably sure that you won’t talk badly of them with other people?  Be sensitive to injustices that other people experience and fight on their behalf. If you are a privileged member of your society, it will be hard to see that everyone doesn’t have it as easy as you to flourish in your society. Living in suburban USA, its easier for me to think of what clothes and toys to get my child so that she fits in with her peers rather than think of the needs of poor neighbourhoods not too far away. We also herald God’s Kingdom when we anticipate the return of Jesus as the King who will reign justly forever and participate as the Church in working towards social, economic and political justice in our communities and nations.   We participate as the Church for wholesome changes in our society and wise efforts to provide all people with an opportunity of understanding who Jesus is and responding in faith to him.

Lastly, Christ followers are also called to “cast out demons”. For those of us that have grown up in Eastern cultures, we are still familiar with obvious demonic oppression.  Yet  the demons that we are called to cast out today while including delivering people from direct demonic oppression may often be more  subtle. It  is vital that we do not  underestimate the reality  of Satan and the need to be prepared to do battle with the forces of evil when we are going about serving  God  in the different ways he has  called each one of us.

What is the nature of Evil today and how do we fight against it?  Some of it is structural sin, where society is set up favouring the most powerful group. A generation ago Rev. Martin Luther King and others challenged structural sin in the United States; as a result we can live where we want to, eat where we want to and sit where we want to on the bus. During the civil war in Sri Lanka, at an army checkpoint at a strategic entrance into the capital, the sign boards saying Stop were in Sinhala (greek to the Tamils from the North and East who couldn’t read or speak the language – and who would be the targets of suspicion as possible terrorists).  Implicit in this is the assumption that everybody should know the majority language of the country, even though the average Sinhalese does not know the minority language.

We proclaim Christ and battle evil when the culture around us sees the ‘dividing walls of hostility’ in our society broken within the family of Christ followers. When the Church demonstrates an alternative society rather than mirror the world around us. When Sri Lankan Christians have close friends across the ethnic divide with whom we talk honestly about emotionally fiery stuff like the civil war. When American Christians have close friends across the racial divide with whom they talk honestly about the times leading up to the civil rights of the 60s.

Sometimes battling evil is personal. Think back and see if you notice that when you were ready to go out and do a project/ task that you felt had God’s leading involved, the setbacks that you encountered.  The ill health of yourself or someone in your family, the discouraging voices of the naysayers, the self-doubt that you didn’t have what it takes to do the job, other crises that demanded your attention.  We do need to have safeguards to ensure that God is indeed speaking to us and we are not pursuing our own agendas. However, once we are reasonably sure of our direction we need to prepare ourselves for the attacks that will come, so that we will not be overwhelmed shortly after getting into action. I can think of a couple of instances not too long ago where I know I was on the right track in terms of what I was doing, only to be hampered in my effectiveness because I had underestimated that as much as God was pleased with my work there was someone else who certainly  wasn’t.

I think the first line of defense is to be aware  that an enemy attack will be launched so that we will recognize it when it happens and be ready with our counter offensive, prayer and resistance! We need to fight Satan with the armour we have already been given in Christ. Live the Scriptures. Be truthful and peaceable. Remember that the Holy Spirit indwells and empowers us. We are called to take every thought captive to Christ. This includes how we think of ourselves and others. What we fantasize about. What we mull in our minds over and over again. We need to break the strongholds erected in our minds over the years;  the loss of hope  after years of not seeing prayer answered in the way we preferred, fatalistic in outlook & overwhelmed by circumstances. We need to deal decisively with the ‘little sins’ that have become entrenched habits that we find comfortable and difficult to give up; maybe  negative patterns of relating to people, including the inability to apologize for serious wrongs due to fear of losing face.

May we be refreshed in the presence of Christ, empowered for works of service and equipped to overcome the enemy of our souls.

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