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What fills and fuels your Christian leadership? How do you keep your faith among the skeptics?
Abraham was commanded by God to take his only son, whom he loved, to the land of Moriah and to sacrifice him “on one of the mountains” that God would show him (Genesis 22:2). Dutifully and unhesitatingly, Abraham set out for the mountain that most likely became Jerusalem’s temple mount.
Once there, God provided a ram as a substitute sacrifice, and His angel proclaimed, “I now know that you revere God and didn’t hold back your son, your only son, from me” (Genesis 22:12). Abraham learned God may ask us to place our dreams and hopes at His feet and be ready to walk away. John Wesley’s younger brother, Charles, learned that same lesson when he first arrived at the college of Christ Church at Oxford.
Have you ever visited or read about a place that is marvelously different from the place you live? Perhaps reading a book, such as C.S. Lewis’s The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, or watching a historical movie has taken you to a world so different from your normal life it captured your imagination. Oxford, England, is one such wonderfully unusual place. An eight-hundred-year-old jumble of spires and towers lines the small, winding streets. Poet Matthew Arnold described it as the City with her dreaming spires.1
Professors and students in colorful regalia on their way to classes chatter in different languages, reminding you that you are at the center of Western education. Oxford was similar in Charles Wesley’s day and was, therefore, a very different place from the rolling farmland of his upbringing. Mount Moriah was a similarly unfamiliar yet beautiful place. It was more mountainous, rocky, and commanding than the rolling, arid plains of Beersheba, from which Abraham had come.
When we go to new places, we are tempted to think God doesn’t necessarily follow. Sometimes we try to leave behind our old selves and reinvent ourselves as someone new. Sometimes, when people transfer to a new job, move to a new neighborhood, or go off to school, they leave their faith behind them.
Charles faced the same temptation when he arrived at Oxford. For all its energy, knowledge, and beauty, it was also home to one of England’s most prestigious seminaries, the college of Christ Church. Its prominent dining hall with soaring ceilings showcased dozens of larger-than-life-size portraits of famous graduates, including John Locke and William Penn.
Yet for all its adoration of education, the students and faculty at Christ Church were largely irreligious. At best they were deists who did not embrace the Bible as the foundational source of truth. Charles was so frustrated he complained to his brother, “[At Oxford] a man stands a very fair chance of being laughed out of his religion.”2
This was a sobering critique. Yet John had already endured and graduated from Christ Church. He must have known if Charles would not give in to social pressures of friends or professors, the experience would instill in him a persistence to follow God even when the faith journey became difficult.
And stay Charles did, eventually graduating, like John. In the process, they created a spiritual “method” to remain strong amid an academic and social community that regarded their faith as laughable.
God sometimes leads us into challenging faith environments.
When called to sacrifice Isaac, Abraham probably thought, “How can I sacrifice my son, for whom I waited and prayed for so long?” And Charles may have wondered, “How can I risk sacrificing my relationship with Christ by staying in an environment where my beliefs are ridiculed?” Perhaps you have encountered a job, a neighborhood, or a group of friends ridiculed or undermined your faith. In both stories, we see God may allow such adversity in order to make us choose faith over circumstance.
Innovation can rise from ridicule.
In the following days, we will witness how the Wesleys put together a method for staying spiritually strong amid persecution and ridicule. God may permit faith challenges not only to make us stronger but also to make us spiritually inventive.
Many churches unknowingly honor the Wesleys’ innovative method by the name Methodist. But few know this creativity emerged out of the brothers’ Oxford experience. Keep in mind it was a method born out of persecution and ridicule, and so too may be your life lessons.
Think of occasions when God took you through difficult times. How have you typically responded? Do you change your beliefs according to your circumstances? Or do you stick to your beliefs and trudge forward regardless of the obstacles? What part does faith play in this? When have you needed more faith?
Those who stand firm during testing are blessed. They are tried and true. They will receive the life God has promised to those who love him as their reward. —James 1:12
Excerpted fromEnthusiast!: Finding a Faith That Fills,by Bob Whitesel (Wesleyan Publishing 2018).
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Bob Whitesel (D.Min., Ph.D.) is a foresight coach, professor, and award-winning author of 14 books. For over 30 years, he has guided leaders and churches to pivot and engage what’s next. He holds two earned doctorates from Fuller Theological Seminary and teaches on leadership foresight, church health, and organizational change. His website is www.ChurchForesight.com. Learn More » |
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