The Christmas Child, by George MacDonald

"Little one, who straight hast come
Down the heavenly stair,
Tell us all about your home,
And the father there."

"He is such a one as I,
Like as like can be.
Do his will, and, by and by,
Home and him you'll see."

Through Pain without Stain

Why does God allow pain, people often ask. Do we think that it is God's primary concern is to maky us happy? How about making us perfect! Our perfected souls are what brings the most glory unto Himself. If us being happy brought God the most glory, than He would do all that He possibly could to make us the happiest beings possible; but that is not how it works. When and how are people most glorified? Why, it is when they are honored, when people pay tribute to them, when they are regarded as a more worthy being.

But why does God allow pain? C.S. Lewis once said that "God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks to us in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: It is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world." Pain wakes us up; it allows us to see things differently; it helps us to ask life's more important questions. Most of all, it makes us more aware of the result of sin: death.


Another question may be asked at this point: why does God allow good? I came across this verse while reading Romans 2, and it brilliantly answers this question: "do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?" (emphasis mine). Pain awakens us to God; goodness is meant to lead to repentance. Both pain and pleasure are meant to lead us to God. Fancy that.

I will again quote C.S. Lewis (you can never have too much Lewis): "God, who foresaw your tribulation, has specially armed you to go through it, not without pain but without stain." Pain is a crucible, meant to present the inbiber a more complete person in Christ. Without stain, without blemish, a closer-to-perfect being on the other side. "For to you it has been granted for Christ's sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake" (Phil. 1:29).


Praise be to God for being wiser than us, for suffering is His method of choice to achieve perfected followers. "Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing" (James 1: 2-4). May we endure pain with joyful hearts, knowing that our suffering is meant to produce in us Christ-likeness.

God Fully-Clawed

"Fearing God? What are you talking about? God is love!" This is the rallying cry of the misinformed Christians of our day. Since "the fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom," it would follow that having no fear of God would leave a person with no wisdom.

But doesn't fearing God mean being afraid of Him? Certainly not! Moses addresses the Israelites, right after delivering the ten commandments, and says, "do not be afraid; for God has come in order to test you, and in order that the fear of Him may remain with you, so that you may not sin" (Ex. 20:20). Do not be afraid. Fear God. These two propositions do not contradict. To be afraid seems to give the connotation of being unaware of consequences or the future, but to fear something, in this case, means that you know well and good what the consequences are. God makes us fully aware what our consequences will be for our sin: death. This fear we are to have for God includes reverence, honor, and respect [Heb. "yir'ah" - awesome or terrifying thing (object causing fear), respect, reverence, piety]. Were it not for Christ, this consequence of eternal seperation from God would be a reality for us all.

All of this to say that modern pagans, and even many Christians, have spent their lives judiciously and fervently declawing God, and in turn His church. Shirking the sharps pains of persecution, ridding ourselves of church purity, emphasizing God's love much more than His other attributes, the list goes on and on. Christians have got to think iconoclastically! We must constantly be vigilant in destroying heretical (wrong-thinking) views of God, and in their place, inserting orthodox (right-thinking) views of God. The ever-present heresy of our day and age is that God is not to be feared. May we rid ourselves of this in order to see God in a more orthodox way, one that honors His omnipotence and wrath toward sin.

Remember, Aslan is not a tame Lion.

Ok, we should fear God, but isn't He "safe?" Don't we know everything there is to know about Him? Don't we have Him in our back pocket? I can say it no better than Mr. Beaver, so I'll let him make response:

"Safe?" said Mr. Beaver. "Don't you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? 'Course he isn't safe. But he's good. He's the King, I tell you.

Thank you, Mr. Beaver. Love, in and of itself...is an oxymoron. True love does not exist without fear and trembling and honor, all of which are immortal things. Let's get back to a more robust and honorable view of our King. God is love, certainly, but He also commands fear and trembling from all creation (Phil. 2:12, Heb. 12:21).

The Scissors with Two Blades

We must never completely dismiss anything that has even a bit of truth to it. The answer to legalism is not anti-legalism, in the same way that the answer the intellectualism is not anti-intellectualism. We must dismiss the corruptions of legalism and intellectualism, but keep the truth found in them. Many evangelicals seem to toss out legalism completely, leaving only a hollow shell of a faith and refusing to learn and retain the truth it was founded on. Works and order and tradition are pivotal and necessary for the Christian. These elements do not save us, but neither does anything, or anyone I should say, besides for Christ. So is no creed but Christ the answer? May it never be! Without works and order and tradition, Christianity is free to become a religion of the times, and will sway like the tree in a fierce wind, giving way here and there, only to be uprooted in the end.

So, what is the answer to legalism? Why, it must be to place works as subject to God. Everything must be subject to God. If we do not choose this for ourselves, God will choose it for us in the end. But isn't faith more important than works? To quote C.S. Lewis, "Regarding the debate about faith and works: It’s like asking which blade in a pair of scissors is most important." Without works, faith is rendered impotent, and without faith, works are rendered impotent. So are works necessary? Are you telling me that I must do good works in order to be saved? These are the wrong sorts of questions. Asking these questions is like asking to be given ways on how to become a saint. To ask for a method of becoming a saint is asking for something that is less than sainthood as a means of attaining sanctity. There are no shortcuts. But back to the issue: works and order and tradition and history are crucial, and Christianity will soon hold no water without them. Naturally if they become idols, we are to cast them out and purify them with fire. But once they are purified, we must bring them back, we must cling to them once more, and we must continue to do so or our religion is doomed to collapse. Christ pours truth from Himself. To accept Christ is to accept His faith and His works, as well as His laws, His history, His traditions, His mind, His will, those whom He blesses, and those whom he curses. Christ ceases to be Christ when we prune Him of these things. So the answer to legalism is not anti-legalism; the answer is to carry your cross and follow your Lord.

I end with a quote from Martin Luther:

"O it is a living, busy active mighty thing, this faith. It is impossible for it not to be doing good things incessantly. It does not ask whether good works are to be done, but before the question is asked, it has already done this, and is constantly doing them. Whoever does not do such works, however, is an unbeliever. He gropes and looks around for faith and good works, but knows neither what faith is nor what good works are. Yet he talks and talks, with many good words, about faith and good works."