Prayer Letter 53

Dear Team, Maundy Thursday, 20th March 2008


This morning I read about some truly authentic followers of Jesus – unnamed and unsung heroes of the persecuted church in North Korea, of whom plenty are now martyrs. Many believers (under probably the most oppressive regime in the world) recite daily the Lord's prayer, and then also the five principals of faith. Those principles highlight their expectations and understanding of the costliness of following Jesus:

1. Our persecution and suffering are our joy and honour.
2. We want to accept ridicule, scorn and disadvantages with joy in Jesus’ name.
3. As Christians, we want to wipe others’ tears away and comfort the suffering.
4. We want to be ready to risk our life because of our love for our neighbour, so that they also become Christians.
5. We want to live our lives according to the standards set in God’s Word.

Wow! I don’t envy their circumstances, but I do their authenticity!

I confess to frequently feeling like a fraud, or an impostor. I aspire to being authentic in following my hero Jesus, but am I? We can talk a good game, but are we prepared to walk the walk? Of course, our respective contexts are totally different from the extremes of North Korea, but what is it costing me to say ‘yes’ to Jesus’ call – without conditions, caveats or compromises?

The events we remember and celebrate during Holy Week are of such earth-shattering importance that I wonder, in analysing how I live my life, whether I really ‘get it’. Do many or even any of us? Tonight we remember the Last Supper – such intimacy, such anticipation… and then such betrayal and denial. At that stage, the disciples certainly didn’t ‘get it’. So they fled and abandoned their hero.

I have lots of lesser heroes out here who move me profoundly. There’s Ahmed, who was a top Muslim and is now following Jesus at great cost to himself and his family. He’s gone from being chauffeur-driven to facing death threats, having to flee, and now sleeping under a car as he seeks to eke out a living for his loved ones as a night-guard. There’s Jean-Marie, who saw his parents’ arms and legs hacked off as they bled to death. Yet he’s forgiven the offenders and is totally passionate for all his countrymen - regardless of tribe - to experience the similar love that God has poured out into his heart. There’s Sarah, who visits the man in prison who wanted to rape and kill her and her kids, and who as a widow has taken in several more orphans from the war without knowing how to support them all. I’ve listed just three heroes, but there are plenty more I could tell you about.

The battle for Burundi continues to be waged. The ravages of war, poverty, HIV-AIDS, and increasing Islamisation are clear for all to see. This Tuesday, I got an email about our YFC orphanage upcountry. There was an armed robbery three hundred yards away, with one of our builders killed and another couple of people in critical condition. Corruption is rife. People die for lack of food and medicine. There are plenty of discouragements to make God’s people want to give up* (see bottom); but we know that the battle is the Lord’s, and so the heroic people I work and hang out with are more than just hanging on in there for Jesus. Chambers said that “tenacity is more than endurance, it is endurance combined with the absolute certainty that what we are looking for is going to transpire. Tenacity is more than hanging on, which may be but the weakness of being too afraid to fall. Tenacity is the supreme effort of a man refusing to believe that his hero is going to be conquered.” Amen!

But following Jesus, wherever we are, isn’t a glamorous affair. We need to be clear about that. Jesus gave no soft sales pitch. Kierkegaard spells out the reality: “I long to accomplish a great and noble task, but it is my chief duty to accomplish humble tasks as though they were great and noble. The world is moved along, not only by the mighty shoves of its heroes, but also by the aggregate of the tiny pushes of each honest worker.”

So, fellow ‘honest workers’, here’s to living authentic lives, be it by mighty shoves or by multiple tiny pushes. Let’s keep following our Hero, who cannot be conquered. It’s going to cost us, but it’s got to be worth it!

Christ is risen! Happy Easter! He’s coming back, see you then!

Simon Guillebaud
www.greatlakesoutreach.org

*(CLICK HERE TO READ ABOUT/PRAY INTO THE SPECIFIC CHALLENGES, AS WELL AS HEARING MORE OF THE INCREDIBLE STUFF GOING ON)