Regional Synod of Canada - Reformed Church in America

Pioneer Christian Monthly

Date - Nov/78

Contributor - Peter J. Yff

Title - Editorial

Topic - Editorial

As so many others have been doing, I was strongly tempted to write something related to the mail strike, or more accurately, that of the inside workers, which is now distressing those who need the mails, and doing a fair bit to frustrate the entire country. Certainly something like a policy calling for binding arbitration would be far preferable than the effects of a strike - first by one union and then by another, each one tying up the postal service.

However, postal strike or no, life goes on. It seemed appropriate at this time of year to write about the quality of life. The athletic world, in thinking about the quality of life, would stress things like strength, and agility, being able to run with the ball, or whatever is involved in the sport concerned. There is more to life's quality, however, than strength or cleverness.

The advertising world would stress the beauty of one's home: its furnishings, its surroundings, and its coveniences. But again, there is more to the quality of life than the neighbourhood, or the comfort for the body found in the home. There is more to the quality of life than the comfort which money can buy, or the security that a good insurance program promises.

Develop an inner strength, or, more accurately, pray that God, through his Spirit, will cause that inner strength to grow within you. Develop a strength which is able to resist and overcome temptation, using the armour which God provides through his word. Look up Paul's words to this effect in Ephesians 6: 10-20. The apostle calls upon us to be strong in the Lord.

This strength is not automatic. You don't go to the store and buy it. Rather, you develop it with practice, with trust, with prayer. Paul had seen the Roman soldier at close hand, in fact, he was guarded by soldiers on a number of occasions, and came to be the instrument of the conversion of some of them. Their loins were properly girded for strength and support. Be like that spiritually. Their bodies were protected with defensive armour . . ... be like that over against the onslaught of evil. Their weapon of attack was always ready . . . . the sword. Use the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

The Christian, strengthened by the grace of God, is empowered to go onward always. He cannot, or rather, may not, turn his back on the foe. The Roman soldier had no armour for his back. If he turned and ran away he deserved to die. The Christian soldier may not turn his back on the task, or the conflict. He should not say, "it's no use, nothing is any good, I'm sick of it all." When he takes this attitude, or allows it to come over him, he in effect turns his back to the enemy, and is vunerable to the fiery darts of the evil one.

This strength does not depend the human. Rather, it empowers the human. I know a man who must take seventy-nine pills and capsules per day, and nitro paste in addition, whose strength is very, very frail, and whose heart is almost indescribably bad, in medical terms. Yet he has come to know a strength in God, which sustains and keeps him, for the most part, cheerful. Physically, you could push him over with a finger, or even a feather. In other ways, however, he has a resilience which impresses even the casual visitor.

Develop this kind of strength, which knows God, and places its hand in his. It makes the most of every day, and every opportunity. The quality of life develops then a faithfulness and a perseverance. It sticks with it.

Perseverance is a quality which does not give up. In some battles (and how long ago the military experience seems - a whole generation has grown up without such involvement) the outcome hinged on the men being brave just a little longer than the foe. So the Christian: persevering longer, and facing the foe. Victory comes then, by the grace of God.

Enemies there are in plenty: people who peddle smut, commonly known as pornography. People who break down the moral conventions, and ten you, "it's all right so long as everybody consents and nobody gets hurt." People who try to drag you down to their level so that they won't feel guilty in your presence. People who love the works of darkness ... The world says, "Eat, drink, be merry - tomorrow it's all over." The Christian knows that time moves on, but he knows also that when that tomorrow comes, he will face his God.

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