Serve and Protect? No, Rescue and Enable!

When I was growing up, the external world was 13" corner to corner and always black and white. Westerns were all the rage and each one followed a formula. Someone wanders into dangerous territory, they get surrounded by unfriendly forces, their situation becomes dire, the calvary shows up, slays the attacker, rides off into the sunset, roll credits.

Sometimes I have a tendency to think of God as the calvary, perhaps you do too. I can see that in many ways, the formula for the old Western seems to mimic our drama with God.

We wander into dangerous territory. No, it isn't the wild, wild west its the realm of sinfulness. Its not out in the desert, its right here in our own hearts, homes and offices.

We get surrounded by unfriendly forces. Its not 'restless natives' or 'roving bands of bandits' instead we face the forces of Satan. Crafty villians that can attack from within OR without, preying upon our self-centeredness and gullibility.

Our situation becomes dire. In fact, we face certain death and unless we are somehow to be rescued, we face an eternity of suffering for our innate sinfulness.

The calvary show up. Only the calvary we need is not in the form of uniformed men on horseback, it is in the form of a cross that stands on Calvary. There were no bugle calls announcing the arrival of the calvary though there were prophets announcing the coming King. There was no call to 'CHARGE!' instead there was a call to 'REPENT!'

The attacking forces are slain. No wait, that doesn't happen AT ALL! We are not rescued through the destruction (killing) of the things that attack us. Nor are we rescued by being carried from the field of battle. Instead, we are made resistent to attack. We are made able to fight back effectively. We are made able to withstand the assault such that the attacker wearies of the fight and withdraws to await a better opportunity.

The calvary rides off into the sunset. Uh, that doesn't happen either! In the Western, the calvary tips their hat, admonishes the attacked to be more careful and turns and rides away. The people line up their wagons and go right back to what they were doing before. But for us, for the redeemed, Calvary never goes away! God, The Spirit, Jesus, they neither leave nor forsake us. Instead, they go with us for the rest of our journey. They teach us to defend ourselves through faith and testing, they teach us to fight back with power and truth. They erect defenses around us and within us and they give us the strength we need to finish the journey intact.

Roll credit. Okay, this part we do. To God be the Glory! This devotional entry brought to you by the power of The Holy Spirit. This was made possible by a most generous contribution of Christ's blood. Thematic elements provided by Luke 1:74 (NIV)
"...to rescue us from the hand of our enemies,
and to enable us to serve him without fear..."

Hapless sinner played by Carl Schultz
Evil forces provided by Satan and his minions
Prophets played by numerous historical figures beginning with Abraham and ending with Zechariah [A-Z]
Bugle calls provided by John The Baptist
Calvary provided by The Holy Trinity


Considering the sequel,
Carl