Christian Priorities and Man Made Stress

Writing about Christian priorities reminds me of a time line.  It should be straightforward for any one given person, but once all the time lines of other people are thrown in it becomes overwhelming and even incomprehensible.  Fortunately, God is up to the task of managing all of these threads; he chooses to set us in a certain time and place to live.   He sets forth some simple guidelines for us limited humans and is somehow patient with us until His appointed “end of the world as we know it.”  Yet, that simplicity is constantly threatened by the imaginations of men.
Do not be concerned that I confuse simple with stress-free.  Life in a fallen world generates stress in various forms.  Some of it is unavoidable.  There is sickness.  People are selfish and regularly fight.  Governments are corrupt.  Persecution happens.  Everyone dies.  However, Christians, since this is the topic of our discussion,  also create unnecessary stress by weighing down others with religious requirements or extra-Biblical guilt.
Much of the disagreement hinges on what is “required” of Christians.  Or, in other words, what will they be doing if they really are Christians.  What will their “works” be?  The culturally acceptable list often contains items such as giving away a large portions of wealth (usually to foreign countries), spending time working for “ministry” organizations,  telling every homeless person you see how to be saved, and generally exhausting time, resources, and energy.  If you haven’t done that, the rather papal verdict is that you aren’t really “committed.”  Making progress with this sort of checklist can easily result in a false sense of righteousness or lack of it, or even a false sense of salvation.
The Biblical version of Christian works is along the lines of I Thessalonians 3:11.  “…and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life and attend to your own business and work with your hands, just as we commanded you, so that you will behave properly toward outsiders and not be in any need.”  The list of things we are to look for when considering whether or not to follow someone as a leader, or mature Christian example, mirrors this same idea.  “He must be one who manages his own household well, keeping his children under control with all dignity…(etc)”  (I Timothy 3:4)  “Having children who believe…”  (Titus 1:6)  “But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.”  (1 Timothy 4:8)  “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.”  (Ephesians 6:4)  These things take time and the home is the center, as well as the point of evaluation.  If a Christian isn’t mature there, he isn’t fit for taking part in other people’s lives.  If other attempts to help people interfere with the primary concerns at home, God wants us to attend to those first.
Other important items on the real list of Christian qualities are things that can’t be faked.  We are supposed to be patient, kind, and forgiving, for example, in our everyday relationships and contacts.  The Bible says a lot about developing heart grown attributes like these which will be shown in our actions as we go about our mundane responsibilities.
So how do we reconcile this obvious emphasis with other places that say things about leaving families, giving to the poor, and taking up our cross?  Quite simply.  If our family makes us choose between faith in Christ and them, we choose Christ.  There is nothing said about “sacrificing our families” as some way to honor God.  If we come across people in need, especially other Christians, we wisely lend them assistance in an appropriate form.  This often necessitates knowing them and being around them.  We keep our eyes open, but we can be completely at rest in knowing that God directs our steps and knows everyone’s needs.  We die to self in terms of self-will, yet live in joy in the life that God has blessed us with.  All of this is low profile, giving all glory to God, and hopefully no one even knows “who that Christian was.”
A certain passage in Matthew 25:31-46 has been used a lot.  The spin is that if we aren’t taking care of all of the poor, searching for them across all boundaries of the earth, and under every park bench, then we are falling short.  However, if we look carefully at the King’s answer, we see He says “to the extent that you did it to ONE (emphasis mine) of these brothers of Mine…”  He knows our limits; and He is specifically referring to other believers.  Obviously, I’m not saying we only help Christians or that once we’ve helped one person we can check that off.  But we should know what the teaching is referring to and what it is suggesting.  If that one lost lamb was so important to Jesus in the parable, then we can not only take comfort in how much we each mean to him, but we can rejoice in one person helped.
I would like to offer two examples of faith and works.  First, Abraham.  He was counted as righteous because he believed the promise of God.  This faith was given feet as he took his son up to offer him as a sacrifice, knowing that God would just have to raise Isaac again to fulfill the promise.  This example of works is interesting because it doesn’t have anything to do with helping anyone.  It was kind of scary, but take comfort in the fact that he had very specific directions.
Job had faith, so much that God wanted to show him off to bring glory to His name.  Job comes through, has the benefit of a very insightful conversation with God,  and is blessed with twice as much in earthly goods as before.  He continued to live a faithful, prosperous life, beginning with offering sacrifices for his friends who had misrepresented God’s character and intent.  We need to be careful about that, too.
The bottom line is that Christians have reason for and access to great peace.  If a certain perspective, a choice, or attitude of ours results in stress or turmoil, it is highly suspect.  If you see the need, but are not omnipotent, fall on your knees and talk to the One who is, but without trying to take His job.