This Sunday we are continuing in our Anabaptist history series. We will be looking at an Anabaptist icon… Dirk Willems.
This might be a familiar story to you. If so, what thoughts, feelings, and emotions stir in you as you think about the story.
As we think about the choice made by Dirk Willems, it makes me think about those in the Bible who had to make choices with difficult consequences…
Joseph, Samson, Mary, Judas, Jesus just to name a few.
We have stories of those who made good choices and some who made not so good choices.
Are we convinced that Dirk made the “good” choice?
Who decides if the decision made is “good” or “bad”?
All this thinking causes me to wonder about the choices I have made. Which ones were good choices and which ones were not so good choices.
Who gets to decide?
Last week when we talked about freedom.
Freedom as defined by the early Anabaptist as being free from the bondage of self-centeredness. Others would certainly define freedom differently.
Some passages for you to think about this week…
Matthew 5:10-12
10 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 “Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Luke 6:22-23
22 “Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man. 23 Rejoice on that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven, for that is how their ancestors treated the prophets.
2 Corinthians 12:9-10
9 but he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.” So I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. 10 Therefore I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities for the sake of Christ, for whenever I am weak, then I am strong.
What do you think about when you hear words like…
Persecute
Hate
Exclude
Revile
Defame
Weakness
Insults
Hardships
Calamities
Do these sounds like the result of “good” choices?
How much time and energy do we spend resisting these types of consequences?
Are we content with making choices that might cause these consequences in our lives?
Let’s talk about it on Sunday.
