This month, our meditation has been excerpted from the book entitled Extreme Devotion, compiled by Voice Of the Martyrs. In the following passage, the account of Liu Xiaobo in China provides us with fodder for reflection and perhaps application:
Bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. (Luke 6:28)
Liu Xiaobo was fuming in his prison cell, thinking only about the sins of his Communist oppressors. As a leader of the protest in Tiananmen Square in China, his fervent prayer had been for the peaceful release of the Chinese Church from the strangling restrictions of the government. He had envisioned the Communists being overcome by the peaceful Christians proclaiming the love of a merciful God. But it had all ended badly.
One by one, he watched his courageous friends stand until the violent, bitter end. And now he had been tracked down and arrested. How could God let such evil overwhelm them? Their efforts had not accomplished what his human mind thought they should have.
Then God's encouragement came to him through the wisdom of a fellow Christian prisoner. Realizing his own sinfulness after their conversation, he wrote, "How can a person who has no sense of sin ever hear the voice of God? Instead of fighting Communists because they do sinful things, I must dedicate myself to trying to win them to Christ, even if it means my death. Jesus was nailed to the cross because of His love for sinners. I must dedicate myself to loving the Communists. If not, we all remain at the bottom of the chasm instead of climbing to the peaks above."
FURTHER: People often think that once they are committed to Christ, life will be easy. They may take it for granted that things will go their way. After all, they are "doing God's will," right? Why shouldn't their endeavors succeed? Soon, however, problems arrive. They may even suffer physical harm because of their faith. When we choose to be counted as Christians, we often discover how many enemies Christ has. Jesus promised that we would be hated for His name's sake. How we choose to react to our enemies is the test of our own Christlikeness. Are you willing to love your enemies by praying for their salvation? Would you share Jesus with them? If we do not reach the oppressors for Christ, who will?
A moment of consideration: The world might say to us, "It cannot be sin; I know I am right!" As believers, we keep Psalm 119:11 in mind, "I have hidden Your Word in my heart, that I might not sin against You." In the heat of the moment as Liu Xiaobo experienced, Christ's commands eluded him: "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy." But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons [and daughters] of your Father who is in heaven." (Matthew 5:43-45) But when his spiritual eyes were opened, Liu added that if we do not love our enemies, "we all remain at the bottom of the chasm instead of climbing to the peaks above."
In his gospel, Luke carried Christ's message further, when he wrote, "But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who abuse you. To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also..." (Luke 6:27-29a) Mr. Xiaobo remarked, "Jesus was nailed to the cross because of His love for sinners. I must dedicate myself to loving the Communists." "Presence of mind" is why we should commit God's Word to memory; when God’s words are hidden within our memory, they are easily recalled when we are faced with an event related to Scriptures’ guidance. Liu had forgotten these commands of Christ as he fumed in his prison cell.
Many believers remain weak because they fail to store up in their minds helpful passages from the Word of God. Apparently they do not realize that in times of stress, sorrow, or temptation, the Holy Spirit can bring those portions to their remembrance to comfort, warn, and direct them.
The followers of some pagan religions are often required to saturate their minds with their sacred writings. For instance, no one can teach in a Mohammedan Mosque until he has first memorized the entire Koran! One missionary tells that for 21 hours she heard a group of Buddhist priests quoting their devotional literature from memory, seldom if ever making a mistake.
Michael Billester once gave a Bible to a humble villager in eastern Poland. Returning a few years later, he learned that 200 people had become believers through using it. When the group gathered to hear him preach, he suggested that before he spoke he would like each person to quote some verses of Scripture. One man rose and said, “Perhaps, Brother, we’ve misunderstood you. Did you mean verses or chapters?” Billester was astonished. “Are you saying there are people here who could recite complete chapters of the Bible?” That was precisely the case. In fact, 13 of them knew half of Genesis and the books of Matthew and Luke. Another had committed all the psalms to memory. Combined, the 200 knew virtually the entire Bible.
Are you constantly hiding the Word of God in your heart? If not, begin today!
In Mr. Xiaobo's situation, he was fortunate to have a fellow Christian prisoner to set Liu straight--very likely through memorized Scripture, though the story does not say. Might we be such a friend to others? As thoughts of vengeance wandered through Liu's mind, God's word softly corrected him, saying "Beloved, never avenge yourself, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, 'Vengeance is mine; I will repay, says the Lord.'" (Romans 12:19) Paul's exhortation to show kindness to one's enemy follows (Romans 12:20-21), with the Lord claiming His vengeance right. In these verses the question is answered, "why should we be kind to our enemies?" Because in so doing, the "radical Christian response to evil is that we refuse to 'overcome evil by evil,' but instead overcome evil with good." (Romans 12:21)
Liu finally came to realize his own sinfulness, and chose to win the Communists to Christ, that he had hated before. The question might be posed to us, "do we ignore our own sinfulness?" If we do, it is perhaps at our own peril. (1 John 3:9; Psalm 66:18) Paul's letter to the Roman church let us know that we have all sinned, (Romans 3:23) and cannot by ourselves attain God's glory. W.H. Auden expressed the weight of sin: "All sin tends to become addictive, and the terminal point of addiction is what is called damnation." And Liu asked, "How can a person who has no sense of sin hear God's voice?"
It is hard to imagine a Christian today from a Bible-believing church that has no sense of sin in their lives. But there are churches today who make no mention of sin in the lives of their parishioners and leaders; to these Liu asks the question of their ability to hear the voice of God. God speaks through His Word to us, through prayer, through his Holy Spirit in our lives; the Psalmist strongly urged us to secrete God’s Word in our hearts, so that we will not sin against Him. And we are in need of listening to the Lord--to His Spirit and His guidance.
In our lives, it behooves us to be winsome toward others, so that we may win some to Christ--showing them the gentleness of our Lord, not intimidating them. Liu Xiaobo sensed God speaking to him, calling him to love his enemies, the Communists. In our lives, who might we be called upon to forgive and love, instead of hating? Brother Liu invites us to climb our mountain of joy instead of all of us remaining at the bottom of the "chasm", in our own "valley of Humiliation*" and "village of Much-Trembling*" instead of climbing to the "peaks" above. May we travel with Much Afraid* and develop hinds’ feet to tread the peaks of the High Places, as Grace and Glory*, and live with the Shepherd there.
(*from Hannah Hurnard, Hinds Feet on High Places)