Definitions of Common Words

I read the following a little while ago and maybe it will help you follow my train of thoughts:

"Though it may be argued, theoretically, that a Christianity in which men know how to picket, but now how to pray, is bound to wither, theorizing is not required, because we can already observe the logic of events. The fact is that emphasis upon the life of outer service, without a corresponding emphasis upon the life of devotion, has already led to obviously damaging results, one of which is calculated arrogance. How different it might be if the angry activists were to heed the words found in The Imitation of Christ, 'Be not angry that you cannot make others as you wish them to be, since you cannot make yourself as you wish to be.'

"The essence of pietism, by contrast, is the limitation of primary interest to personal salvation. Even today, by the highways, we can see signs paid for by somebody, which urge us to 'get right with God.' The evil of this well-intentioned effort lies not in what it says, but in what it so evidently omits. The assumption is that salvation is nothing more than a private transaction between the individual and God and that it can become an accomplished, dated event."
-From The New Man for Our Time by Elton Trueblood 

Follow me for a second, would you, and then hopefully you can see where my rabbit trail emerges. So I read this in my little devotional book and it got me thinking about how as believers many times we have the best of intentions with things and we so desperately want people to see the light and goodness that we see in Jesus that we don't actually give the entire picture. It then led me to thinking about one of my favorite quotes by Amy Carmichael that says, "Persecution winnos the grain, and we do not want a church of chaff." This quote to me spells out the goodness of God in hard times. He knocks us down to build us up.

But now continue on down my rabbit trail and I hope you will see the full circle. When we became believers we signed on to a different dictionary than Webster's. Persecution is never positive in any dictionary I've ever read. But Christ says on multiple occasions that His people will suffer much for their decision to follow Him. So if God is good all the time- and He is, that's not up for discussion currently-  then persecution helps make the church and its people stronger, thus glorifying the Kingdom (thus being good!).  Or take good. If you look it up you'll find things like "above average condition, high-quality." Is that what you call a situation that we've all had in our Christian journey when things go horribly wrong? There are many other words I like to use in those bad situations and "above average" isn't one of them. But those situations are "good" when we think of them from God's definition- meaning things that bring us closer to being more like Him and a little less like ourselves in our human condition.

I could go on and on with examples but my point is this: when we signed on to Christianity our dictionary had to change. We have to stop seeing things from the world's perspective and we have to start learning God's perspective.

Maybe you'll resonate with one last example.

" O my God, in you I trust; let me not be put to shame; let not my enemies exult over me. Indeed, none who wait for you shall be put to shame."  Psalm 25: 2-3a.

I can think of about a hundred or more examples when I've felt pretty embarrased in life. And from my human perspective embarrasment and shame are pretty much the same thing. I'm ashamed when I do something dumb (ranging from tripping on the sidewalk to actual sin). I felt "put to shame" in college on many occasions when the "cool thing" was not something I wanted to do and people thought I was a little uptight.

But God's definition must not be my definition because I'm going to choose to believe instead of doubt. So if I'm going to believe I'm going to take Him at His word and His word says "NONE who wait for you shall be put to shame [PERIOD.]" Not "put to shame sometimes" but "not put to shame ever." So my definition must be WAY off, way misguided, way too far deep into our culture and what we find as happiness-giving but really is a temporary band-aid for deeper needs. Whatever emotion I've experienced in those situations whether because I'm sticking up for Jesus or because I've done something clumsy, it's not shame. And you know why? Because God says He made me perfect and I know what His definition for that word is. It may not always be my definition, but I'd rather use His dictionary anyway.