1 Thessalonians 2:18
“We wanted to come to you – certainly I, Paul, did, again and again – but Satan stopped us.”
“Satan stopped us”, says Paul. Now where would you use language like that in the coming week? Could you tell your teacher: “I wanted to finish my essay but Satan stopped me”? I wouldn’t recommend it. Could you explain to your manager: “I wanted to make that sale but Satan got in the way”? Best update your résumé before you do. Talk like this is quirky.
Many Christians treat Paul’s words literally, but very few talk like Paul anywhere but in church. And those who do – blaming this and that on Satan – embarrass the rest of us. Overt talk of “Satan” is odd. For most secular people devils belong on the same intellectual shelf as leprechauns and fairies.
I lament this. Not because I want to use the word “Satan” or blame things on “devils” more frequently. I don’t actually. But what I do want is to talk about the power and presence of evil in every day life. I want to name the elephant in the room.
People may scoff. They probably argued with Paul: “Satan? Don’t be silly, you just planned poorly or maybe it was simply bad luck. No need to invoke fantasies”. But Paul is convinced that something more is going on in the world. Something that opposes God’s purpose and that works to extinguish love in every life. (Eph. 6:12)
I share Paul’s conviction. I do not believe that injustice is simply bad luck or that violence is poor planning. I reject the notion that better politics, more education and good psychology can make everything right. There is something else going on in the world. I can’t explain it fully (nor does the bible by the way) but it is there. And I want to talk about it.
How do we bring this conviction into everyday conversation? How do we put the reality of evil back into secular vocabulary? Here is my initial list of ideas. I would be pleased to hear your thoughts as well.
Asking provocative questions. “Do you ever think evil has a mind of its own?” “Do you believe evil in the world is more than just choice and chance?” Be prepared for a conversation. It could get interesting.
Risking a confession. “I think I experienced evil once …” “Sometimes I think evil works more like a person than an inert force. What do you think?”
Stating a conviction. “I think evil is working against us here.” You can’t say this if you are buying your third Mercedes and they don’t have the colour you want, but you may be spot on if your disrupted project is transporting food to starving children.
Talking systems. “They are all good people, but there is something evil that takes over when they get together.” “I think that company/regime/group is serving an evil bigger than itself.”
Invoking tradition. “I was brought up to believe in Satan. When I hear/see that (fill in your choice of evil) I realise I still believe it. What do you believe?”
Conversation about evil must lead to redemptive outcomes. There is no point spiritualising the problem if we are not ready to offer spiritual solutions. Talking about evil in this way is a call to pray and to act with God. It rests on the conviction that God is at work against evil.
Christians sometimes fail the wider culture when our talk of “Satan” has more to do with testing each other’s orthodoxy than confronting the world’s deep need together. It does not matter to me if people see it differently. What matters is if people don’t see it at all. When evil hides, we are all in danger.
I suggest we bring “Satan” back into the public conversation. If not by name, at least by our attention to the anti-God forces alive and well on planet earth. There is an elephant in the room. Let’s not allow him to hide among us any longer.
Questions
- How do you talk about evil in secular contexts? What strategies have helped you?
- What kinds of Christian talk about evil make you cringe?
- Please leave a comment.
1 Thessalonians 2:3
“We are not trying to please people but God, who tests our hearts.”
People matter. But sometimes, people and their approval matter too much. I can get tangled up in the people-pleasing game wanting others to like me and applaud my efforts. This becomes counter productive. I need a different strategy.
PROBLEM
Chronic people-pleasing diminishes the soul. If we are always trying to make others happy we become smaller people and we loose our way. Our capacity shrinks and our purpose shrivels.
Aesop’s 6th Cent. B.C. fable makes the point (Harvard Classics, 1909-14).
The Man, The Boy and The Donkey
A man and his son were once going with their donkey to market. As they were walking along by its side a countryman passed them and said: “You fools, what is a donkey for but to ride upon?”
So the man put the boy on the donkey and they went on their way. But soon they passed a group of men, one of whom said: “See that lazy youngster, he lets his father walk while he rides.”
So the man ordered his boy to get off, and got on himself. But they hadn’t gone far when they passed two women, one of whom said to the other: “Shame on that lazy lout to let his poor little son trudge along.”
Well, the man didn’t know what to do, but at last he took his boy up before him on the donkey. By this time they had come to the town, and the passers-by began to jeer and point at them. The man stopped and asked what they were scoffing at. The men said: “Aren’t you ashamed of yourself for overloading that poor Donkey of yours—you and your hulking son?”
The man and boy got off and tried to think what to do. They thought and they thought, till at last they cut down a pole, tied the donkey’s feet to it, and raised the pole and the donkey to their shoulders. They went along amid the laughter of all who met them till they came to Market Bridge, when the donkey, getting one of his feet loose, kicked out and caused the boy to drop his end of the pole. In the struggle the donkey fell over the bridge, and his fore-feet being tied together he was drowned. “That will teach you,” said an old man who had followed them: “Please all, and you will please none.”
Reacting to every criticism feeds a vicious circle of defeat. Of course I need encouragement, but craving affirmation makes me vulnerable to indecision and folly. The harder I try to please the crowds the more complicated it becomes. It is like drinking salt water to quench thirst – the problem escalates.
SOLUTION
Choose an audience of ONE. It is much easier (and wiser) to please one God than many friends. In 1Thessalonians Paul is writing to people who have criticised him. His comment is wise. "We are not trying to please you but God." That must be my objective also.
Someone may be thinking, it is hard to please God and to know what God wants. Not true. Most of God’s will is plain in the Bible, in common sense, in the community of believers, in the history of the faith, in the witness of the Spirit, in the place of prayer, in the book of nature and in the promise of Jesus’ abiding presence.
If none of that helps initially, I submit that it is still easier to work out what God wants than to please everyone else. And even if I fail God, I am still in a better place. God’s forgiveness is sweeter than the highest praise of people.
Live from your HEART. Paul was keen to have God judging his heart rather than people judging his actions. Me too! People rank us by our outward achievements and rate us on our performance but they don’t know the whole story. If they can’t see our motives they may very well misinterpret our actions.
We are blind to each other’s history, ignorant of dreams and unaware of fears that lurk beneath the surface. We are too quick to judge and slow to discern. God however is attentive to our entire story, both public and private, from beginning to end. So, keep a pure heart and let God (not people) score your progress.
What peace to live for an audience of one, the Holy One. What joy to have my heart assessed in heaven when my actions on earth draw disapproval from others. Today I choose not to be a people-pleaser. And tomorrow I’ll have to make the same choice again …
Questions
- In what circumstances is it harmful to please people and when is it wise? What is a people pleaser?
- How do you battle the people pleaser syndrome?
- Please leave a comment.
