It is a bit after 10 o'clock at night as I put pen to paper. My day of ministry started at 7 a.m. and is just now winding down.
It actually would have ended a bit earlier, but I received a call that a child we pick up on our church bus had been hit by a vehicle and was in the hospital. I left the house to go see him, thus extending my day significantly. (The boy is fine, by the way.)
I mention this because of a question I received while doing so: Why? My answer was: "Because it is the right thing to do. Anyone who is hurting goes to the top of the priority list, whether they drive to church in a Mercedes or ride to church on a bus."
This is what is known as idealism, the concept that certain things are right and to be followed just because they are proper, regardless of whether they are, in any way, beneficial. In fact, real idealism pays attention to doing right even more when there is no benefit to the idealist.
I do not mention any of this as a way to pat myself on the back. In fact, it is not idealism itself that I am currently musing on, but rather the way that the basis for that idealism has so radically changed for me through the years.
When we started our church in 1997, I was young, just 27 years old, and had enough energy to power a small city. I was emotionally unscathed, the entire world seemed bright, and I expected everything to consistently come up roses. In short, I was an idealist based on feelings and emotion.
But now, many many years have passed. I am much older, often tired, have faced all of the typical battles that most every pastor faces and have learned to hope for the best while expecting the worst.
At this stage of the game, idealism is no longer a matter of feelings and emotions. A great amount of the time now, my emotions and feelings demand that I slack off, take care of myself and my family and refrain from running on fumes. Nonetheless, as far as I know, God has helped me to maintain all of the idealism of my youth. I still believe in doing right regardless of benefit or lack thereof, and I still believe it just as firmly as ever. The difference is that now my idealism is a matter of choice, not of feeling...
There were doubtless many times in the earthly life and ministry of Jesus where he felt like doing right, and therefore did right. But there is at least one time mentioned where things were a bit different for him. It was in the Garden of Gethsemane, and the shadow of the cross was falling across him. Luke 22:41-42 says: "And he was withdrawn from them about a stone's cast, and kneeled down, and prayed, Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done."
In his humanity, Jesus recoiled at the thought of the cross and all it entailed. Hebrews 12:2 tells us that he did not enjoy the cross, he endured the cross. He did not delight in the shame; he despised the shame. He did not do right because he felt like it; he did right because it was right.
Anyone who claims to know Christ as his or her savior needs to be aware of and follow that example. It is easy to do right when it benefits us, it is easy to do right when we feel like it. But real character is shown in idealism that bears no benefit to the idealist.
Leave emotions and feelings out of the equation. The right rule of life is "do right whether you feel like it or not."
Bo Wagner is pastor of the Cornerstone Baptist Church of Mooresboro, N.C., and the author of several books which are available at wordofhismouth.com. Contact him at 2knowhim@cbc-web.org.