GLEANINGS from the Daily Office – Hurt Feelings vs Fear

GLEANINGS (from the Daily Office) – Hurt Feelings vs Fear – Year Two, Advent 1, Tuesday, December 1, 2015, Amos 3:1-11

“The Lion has roared; who will not fear?”

In a politically correct culture, the Gospel is offensive and potentially hate speech. It is offensive in its exclusivity. There is no other name under heaven . . . It is offensive in its narrowness. Narrow is the road that leads to life. It is offensive in its expansive judgment. Wide is the path that leads to destruction. It becomes hate speech when it says regardless of what the law says, some acts were, are, and forever will be immoral.

To an unbeliever all this is foolishness, Paul says. And I get that. No one should be forced to accept what is basic to Christianity IF they are not a Christian. And I can appreciate that it offends. If you don’t believe in sin, you probably will not take kindly to your manner of life being deemed sinful. It might even hurt your feelings.

However, to a believer, those being saved, the Gospel is the Power of God. And it should produce in us, Christians, fear as in awe, guilt, repentance, thanksgiving, and generally transformed thinking. One thing it does not produce? Hurt feelings! My feelings are hurt when my wife says my glasses are out of style. I feel guilt when God tells me I should stop harboring ill feelings towards that jerk that stole my bike when I was 12. The Lion has roared!

#dreverettpiper

–Frodo: “I wish none of this had happened.” Gandalf: “So do all who live to see such times, but that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.”–