As I look around the world, I see, It’s hard being a Christian. It’s cost me relationships, some aspects of my own person comfort, and my idea of myself. Christianity has taken a lot of my pride and certainty away. Elsewhere, children of God have lost nearly every ounce of freedom. The very existence of the persecuted church, as they live according to God the Holy Spirit—in obedience and truth—is part of God’s rescue plan to save us from ourselves. To save His creation—we who are all made in the image of God to rule and reign over the earth, from turning other image-bearers into physical and spiritual slaves.
Part of being adopted, of being a child and an aspect of God’s mysterious outreach of love in this world, is being broken.
Sometimes it is the enemies of God—principalities, powers, witchcraft, present evil, and that which threatens.
On the other hand, I’ve also seen the beating my assumptions and habits have taken, as God has answered prayers for
- wisdom
- insight
- intersectionality—where my benefit aligns with the sovereign will of God, as well as many other prayer requests for teaching and growth.
Like the olives mentioned in Chapter Twenty-four of Leviticus, God has used the beatings I’ve experienced to reveal truth and His own light inside of me. Though He’s never been the author of the evil I’ve chosen for myself or of that waged against me, God has not let my beatings—the gradual recognition of failures, false paradigmns, and fallen strategies—leave me unrefined.
As the Chief Good Samaritan, God has lifted me, Chief Sinner, and made my testimony into the clear oil of humility.
14You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. 15Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a basket. Instead, they set it on a stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.
(Matthew 5:14-16, Berean Study Bible). Like the beaten olives, God is taking the oil of my beaten mind, soul, and body to transform me into a light to shine.