Tag Archives: The Christian Life

Mentoring

If there were such a thing as Christian art, what would it look like?

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Maybe like this:

Indomitable. Defiance.
Indomitable. Defiant. Unbreakable.

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There is actually a pretty strong theme of defiance, courage and non-conformity that runs through the Bible, in the Old and New Testaments.

Here are a few verses that come to mind.

“In all this, they are surprised that you do not run with them into the same excesses of dissipation, and they malign you…”
(1 Pet 4:4)

“But even if you should suffer for the sake of righteousness, you are blessed. And do not fear their intimidation, and do not be troubled…”
(1 Pet 3:14)

And a longer one:

1 This, then, is how you ought to regard us: as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the mysteries God has revealed.

2 Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful.

3 I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself.

4 My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me.

5 Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait until the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of the heart. At that time each will receive their praise from God.

(1 Cor 4:1-5)

Or this one:

12 Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.

13 But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.

14 If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.

(1 Cor 4:12-14)

Or this one:

16 Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to him, “King Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter.

17 If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand.

18 But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.”

(Dan 3:16-18)

Do you have any verses that draw out this tradition of defiance?

But If Not
But If Not

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One of my friends who is a pro-life activist recently was going through some difficult trials and posted the short message “But If Not” on his Facebook page. Every Christian needs to understand the meaning of the phrase “But If Not” from Daniel 3.

Defiance is a very, very Christian thing to feel. So often we have this feminized, sanitized view of Christianity as happiness, politeness and cleanliness. We don’t want to offend anyone, or to be disliked by anyone, or to make anyone feel bad about what they are doing about the God who is there and is not silent.

Here is a trustworthy saying:

“Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point, which means, at the point of highest reality. A chastity or honesty or mercy which yields to danger will be chaste or honest or merciful only on conditions. Pilate was merciful till it became risky.”

– from “The Screwtape Letters” by C.S. Lewis

I think we have to get used to this idea that being a Christian is no guarantee of happiness or popularity.

In my life, I have had to say things like this: “I’m really sorry that you don’t like me. I’m really sorry that my decision to honor God makes you uncomfortable. But I’m not going to change for you. I’m OK with being the underdog. I don’t have to be happy right now. I don’t need you to approve of what I am doing.”

It makes me laugh that people think I care what they think of me just because I don’t act against my conscience to approve of their sinning. I’ve thought through my views, and seen the evidence from peer-reviewed publications, and debated with people who disagree and won. I couldn’t care less about their desire for me to approve their reckless, selfish behavior. I interpret their desire for approval as weakness and I scorn their weakness.

Every Christian comes to a point where the things we hoped that God would do for us do not happen, when our former allies fall away from us, when the people entrusted with caring for us failed in their obligations… at that point we have to decide what we are going to do with God. I think Psalm 27 is an excellent thing for people to read who are in that situation.

By the way, Christians should have an eye out for other Christians who are in distress while striving mightily for the Lord. Act self-sacrificially in a way that you strengthen their relationship with God in Christ. Make plans to support that person, and carry them out. Most of what you are doing elsewhere in your life probably isn’t as important as the deliberate, strategic, intelligent support that you give to other Christians. Love isn’t agreeing with someone’s bad decisions or evasions – it’s being there and telling them the truth, and neutralizing threats to their faith. That could involve the use of money, spending time, expending effort, resolving intellectual challenges, defeating a challenger in a discussion for them, writing them with advice… anything.

You may enjoy listening to this lecture entitled “Giants in the Land“, by Dr. Walter Bradley.

Mentoring

MUST-READ: The Pugnacious Irishman does a brave thing that we must imitate

4 Comments

OK, now this is what I really like to see.

Excerpt:

Set up my classroom today…it’s an ordeal.

I have this gigundous bookshelf next to my desk that contains the  books I’ve read.  My theory is that if I want to make my students readers, I must model it myself.  In order for that to happen, they need to see me as a reader, which means they should see what I read.

If a student’s parents sign a waiver, the student has permission to check out any book in my room, including from my shelf (the lone exception is that books from my shelf can’t leave the room–I’m very territorial about my books.  :) ).

While I have a large range of reading interests, there are many Christian themed books.  Science, philosophy, theology, history–it’s all represented.

I can see some students balking at this.  “Isn’t that illegal?” they might ask.  “Hey!  Them’s religious books, and that violates the separation of church and state!” they might quip.

One time during a discussion at my previous school in which a religious question came up, a student objected: “my junior high teacher told me that it’s a sin to talk about religion in the classroom.”  Now there’s a contradiction if I ever heard one!

There’s no way I’m gonna let some ill-thought out one liner from a student or even parent get me to back down.  I’ve thought about this, and I have a ready response.

Read the whole thing! He goes into details explaining why he is not intimidated by the threat of people being offended. This is a great post. Very inspiring!

And now I want you all to consider trying to be like Rich! If you have a workplace, consider adding something that identifies you as a Christian. Rich just got married, and it hasn’t affected his level of bravery one bit! One of the main reasons I avoid marriage is because to me it means the end of adventures. I just cannot believe that my wife would encourage me to be brave. But Rich’s example should be an inspiration to us all!

This is exactly what I wanted to do in life, but by then I was committed to computer science… I dream of teaching! But I’m not sure how to get into it, and I don’t want to be in a union.

To learn more about bravery in the workplace

Listen to some lectures by my favorite Christian of all, the one I try to emulate most in my day to day life.

Dr. Walter L. Bradley

  • Ph.D. in Materials Science, University of Texas at Austin, 1968
  • B.S. in Engineering Science, University of Texas at Austin, 1965

My favorite lecture of all time:

And variations of his “Giants in the Land” lecture that I like:

Other lectures:

Post what YOU do to be identified as a Christian in YOUR workplace in the comments!