An article by Alex Massie in the Sunday Times caught my attention more than usual. He was examining how adherents of a particular political party allowed their allegiance to define the ‘core of their being’. He supported this by reference to a recent survey which showed that a majority of this party’s members took personally any criticism of their party or their party’s leader.
I suppose this could be extended to many different areas of life. Football teams, authors, singers, church traditions. The list is endless. A blow against any cherished part of our being is a blow against us. And experience shows that it can affect personal relationships. Love me love my politics, my team, my church. If any of this, and this is just a small representation, has allowed to sink so deeply that it defines the ‘core of our being’ then we need to be concerned.
Thinking about this my mind was drawn to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby. Some years ago he went public over his discovery that the man he had always thought was his biological father was not in fact. He told the complicated story but in the end said that although he had been shocked, and there were issues arising from this he would have to deal with, he was reassured in the knowledge that his real identity was in Jesus Christ. It was this that defined ‘the core’ of his being.
This issue of who we are in Christ comes through powerfully in the thought of the apostle Paul. In Philippians 3: he reflects on the things that defined his core being as an orthodox Jew:
‘ . . . circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless.’ (Vv. 5-6)
But he goes on:
‘But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ . . .’ (vv. 7-8).
All these influences that shaped his inner being he know regards as ‘rubbish’ compared to what he has found to be true in Christ. It is this which must shape his core being. Having pout his trust in Jesus, and received His Spirit, nothing should get in the way of the Spirit’s work, to shape him from within according to the pattern of Jesus’ life, to produce ‘love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.’ (Galatians 5: 22-23.).
You have no doubt heard it said the God works in mysterious ways. He certainly works in surprising ways. I am grateful to a Sunday Times journalist in leading me to a serious spiritual check-up. People have been scanning, examining and probing me in various ways over the last three years or so. I am grateful for this. But nothing is more important that those occasions when the Spirit opens me up and lays bear the core of my being.
