Witness the Eternal Game

I have recently found myself in a rather difficult situation. I won't lay out the details for you, because the situation is still on-going, and given the public nature of this blog, I'll keep most details under wraps.

Picture, if you will, one of those game shows where the host steps up to his mark on the floor in front of the camera, and the glitter and glitz of the stage pan across your screen. The host motions to a set of colorful doors behind him. "What's behind Door #1, Johnny?" And the music ramps up as the audience strains to see.

In this situation I'm in, I have a choice.

Behind Door #1, I zip my lips and allow a conversation to happen all around me that ignores the existence of God and His work in the world and in my life, and it might even be okay. Nothing bad will likely happen to me. I won't lose my faith or my salvation. I'll be one more day further on a calendar year that I'll check off and put behind me. Door #1 offers anonymity and comfortable obscurity.

Door #2 is different. Behind it, I find a spotlight, and... in this case, censure and verbal persecution. There's not much of an immediate prize behind this door, no trips to Europe, no brand new convertible, no check for $50k. Here, behind this door, is where I plant my feet, tell my fears to take a hike, and stare into the darkness beyond the spotlight. Here is where I make a choice to open my mouth and speak words that bear a testimony to the Holy Spirit's work in me.

In John 15:18-16:4, Jesus gives His disciples a dire warning. They're a little scary, the things He's saying, to be honest.

Jesus, you've already been hinting all night that you're going to leave us and go somewhere we can't go. Can't you just... dial it back a bit?

But in the first chapter of John, the apostle reminds us of two essential qualities of Jesus, the Word Who comes from the Father. These qualities are Grace and Truth. Jesus does not offer one without the other; they're a package deal. He doesn't give grace and ignore the truth. He doesn't show the truth and forget to extend grace. 

So here, as He's laying out the situation for the disciples, He warns them of hard times coming (the truth): the promise of persecution. He also reminds them that He is sending the Holy Spirit to them to help them in their weakness (grace).

"If the world hates you," He says, "keep in mind that it hated Me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you."

Though the New Testament only records the death of two of the disciples (Judas Iscariot, who hanged himself, and James, the son of Zebedee and brother of John, who Herod beheaded -- killed by the sword -- in 44 A.D. according to Acts 12:2), historians and oral tradition assign traumatic deaths via persecution to all the rest of the disciples except John -- the only one of the Twelve believed to have died a natural death.

This is no cake walk the disciples signed up for. Following Jesus, to them, may at first have been simply following the teachings of a Rabbi who said things they'd never heard before -- but as their relationship to Him grows deeper, so, too, does their commitment. In that room, as Jesus speaks to them of the hatred of the world, Door #1 and Door #2 open up in front of them.

Anonymity and obscurity? Safety according to the world?
Or persecution, danger, and even death?

In Matthew 10:28, Jesus says: "Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell." 

If we're afraid of the people around us, if we're afraid of their censure or their laughter or their abusive treatment... our fear is directed at the wrong thing. Rather, we should have a holy reverence for the One Who judges us according to every thought and action. If we turn away from the cross, the work that Jesus did when he conquered death -- yes, we should absolutely fear what will happen on the day we stand before Him. Door #1? Or Door #2.

The thing is: there is no standing and staring at the doors, there's no turning around and walking the other way. With the inevitability of time, the choice lies before the disciples, and they must choose. 

"When the Counselor (the Holy Spirit, the third member of the Trinity) comes, Whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, Who goes out from the Father, He will testify about me. And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning" (John 15:26-27).

Yes, the Holy Spirit works in us and through us and gives us words to speak that bear a testimony, but the choice to open our mouths is ours.

Will we testify? Or will we keep silent? Will we choose the easy door? Or the difficult one?

In this situation where I find myself, there is little danger that I will be "put to death by the sword" as James was or crucified upside-down as Peter supposedly was. I might have to endure a few silent stares, maybe some name-calling or harsh statements. We thus far live in a privileged place where I don't have to hide my family in a cave somewhere because of what I believe.

So the Door I choose should be easy. 

It's not, though. I dread it. If I were only thinking of me, I'd go for the comfort and obscurity that waits behind Door #1. Since I have chosen to walk the path that Jesus laid out, though, I'll choose Door #2. And I'll testify, whatever the cost.

"When you are brought before synagogues, rulers, and authorities, do not worry about how you will defend yourselves or what you will say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say" (Luke 12:11-12).

And then... don't just stand there. Say it! Testify to the power of the Holy Spirit in your life! In an eternal game, nothing, nothing, is worth your silence.