Wednesday, March 20, 2013

A Full Head of Hair

“10 Then he said to them, “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. 11 There will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and pestilences. And there will be terrors and great signs from heaven. 12 But before all this they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors for my name's sake. 13 This will be your opportunity to bear witness. 14 Settle it therefore in your minds not to meditate beforehand how to answer, 15 for I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict. 16 You will be delivered up even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and some of you they will put to death. 17 You will be hated by all for my name's sake. 18 But not a hair of your head will perish. 19 By your endurance you will gain your lives.” (Luke 21:10-19)
“And some of you they will put to death… But not a hair of your head will perish.” Now that’s good news for a guy like me sporting the good old Swedish hairline. Not a hair of your head will perish. I’m guessing as honorable as Paul made it sound to lose your hair, men sort of obsessed about balding back then too. Jesus draws a distinction between dying and perishing here. Perish means to die spiritually as well as physically. To perish is to be sent to hell. Some of us will be put to death. Many have been. Many are never martyred. All are hated for the sake of Christ, name here is much more than moniker. Name denotes being. We are hated on account of Christ. There are no ifs or ands about that. If you are a Christian you are hated. So get used to it. People hate you. You don’t actually have to give them a reason for this, Jesus did, he took away their right to be God. This will not be tolerated, not by muslims, not by atheists. They will hate you. But don’t worry, even if they put you to death, you will not perish, and in the resurrection you will enjoy a full head of hair again.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great! I used to have a full head of hair!

I wonder, if more Christians read this and took the Word seriously if it would put an end to the shenanigans taking place in some of the churches that are trying to be culturally relevant?

Your neighbor to the East - Rob in MT

Bror Erickson said...

No, those are the shenanigans the world uses to pull people away from the church of God.