Instruments of History

Somewhere in the middle of Edward Rutherford’s novel Sarnum, the religious experience of his fifteenth century characters is described with the gloom as having “conscience but no cause.” We can be sensitive to what ought to be, aware of how life might be lived, and able to discern with real precision the very best way to navigate through the ambiguities of human experience, but for all of our enlightenment, we may be led to little more than disillusionment, frustration, guilt and self-condemnation.

Having all the earth-moving equipment parked at the site does not mean that the road has been built. Having a clear understanding of all the options does not alone mean that we are any closer to exercising any of them. Knowing right from wrong does not mean that we are thereby on the road to the rewards of virtue. One of our pastors used to say we can get bogged down in “the paralysis of analysis.” There are many people who have a near-perfect capacity for accurate analysis, but cannot go beyond the process of conscience and enter the universe of “cause.”

I grew up with a neighborhood bully who used to say, “I don’t care whether I’m right or wrong, I’m right, see?” His “cause” was to get his way, and he succeeded often enough. As he grew to maturity life was not kind to him, and self-determination soon yielded to futility and grief. We need to see that having a “cause” is not simply trying to get our way, even as having a conscience is not limited to merely understanding our circumstances. It is rather that we understand, as Oswald Chambers repeatedly wrote, “We cannot do what God can do, and He will not do what we can do.”We need to take the steps that allow our conscience to shape our “cause.”

The Holy Spirit can hone our conscience to the finest edge, but only we can wield it into an instrument of history. So let us realize that as individuals and as a congregation we can be such instruments of history. To realize that every moment that we claim for the cause of Christ will engrave a message in the corporate memory of what happens because the people of God engaged their time of ministry. In three hundred and some days from now our record will have become history. Let us together in Christ thank God for this time before us, and for the marvelous joy of the comradeship and spirit that abounds in the glorious cause of Christ.

In Christ,

Pastor Jansen