Wednesday: A Person for Whom Christ Died
WEEK 10
WEDNESDAY
A PERSON FOR WHOM CHRIST DIED
Revelation 14:6; 22:2
This equalizing of people before God and hence before humanity is seen in two marble tablets in a church in Agra, India. They are of the same size. One is to Sir Henry Havelock, the famous commander of the British forces in India: “He was every inch a soldier, and he was every inch a Christian.” The other alongside is “To the memory of Pte. Robert Jones: he was a faithful soldier and a sincere Christian, a noble example to his comrades of Christian life in the barrack room. His last words were: ‘The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us of all sin. Now I have no doubts. Safe in the arms of Jesus. Blessed Jesus.’”
The private had more said about him than the general! They were both sons of God and therefore brothers.
This within-without method of producing a classless society is more thoroughgoing and more lasting. Without that within emancipation the without will come back again and take over. Russia is striving to have a classless society by the without-within method. But the without comes back where there is no within—comes back often hidden. I asked a waiter in a hotel in Moscow why the dining room was so empty; were there no guests in the hotel? He replied, “The hotel is full of government officials, military and civilian; but they dine in their rooms with their vodka and their girls, so they will not be seen.” Special privilege had not been wiped out within.
Lest self-righteousness creep in and take over, let us be reminded that we have class in our society, largely based on money. It is just as insidious as that based on blood and family. Jesus said, “One’s life isn’t determined by one’s possessions, even when someone is very wealthy” (Luke 12:15). If one’s “life,” then one’s position in life, standing before society, should not consist in the abundance or meagerness of one’s possessions. A person is a person—for whom Christ died.
The kingdom of God is a classless society; there is only one class, the class of the children of God. That simple fact dooms all distinctions set up to segregate person from person.
O Lord, your fatherly heart is breaking down our unbrotherliness, for you are intending a brotherhood and sisterhood, a family of God. Help us to cooperate. Amen.
AFFIRMATION FOR THE DAY: I will look on every person not for what he or she is but for what he or she can be in God.