When we oppose ourselves

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I couldn’t resist sending you the picture below. Haven’t we all met people who do crazy, self-destructive things? Such people don’t need enemies—they are their own worst enemy! They go through life tripping themselves up and inflicting catastrophe after catastrophe on themselves.

How do we help people like that? They can try a pastor’s patience and it’s tempting to think we must “do something about them.” Perhaps we need to be reminded of Paul’s instructions to Timothy: “The servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; and that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will” (2 Timothy 2:24-26 KJV).

Note the emphasis here. Paul does not say, “Tell these people to get their act together and start living properly. Or else!” Rather, he tells Timothy to be patient, tolerant and humble, reminding him that even though such people may be their own worst enemy, they are not God’s enemy. They may be unable to acknowledge their problem and so become easy prey for the devil. They may reject and resist advice, but that does not give a pastor the right to abandon them. We may not be able to open up their minds to see their problems, but God can.

Gently relating to such people is an important part of being a pastor. We are reminded that we are shepherds of God’s flock, not “lords over God’s heritage” (1 Peter 5:3 KJV). If we remember this as we serve those who “oppose themselves,” we will become more aware of God’s unrelenting and unconditional love for all of humankind, including ourselves. If we are brutally honest, we must admit we too have our moments of self-opposition.

One of the most awesome dynamics in our lives comes when we recognize and acknowledge that, in Christ, God says “YES” to the question of our reconciliation with him and our eternal salvation. Then when we see what God is doing with us in Christ and say, “yes” and “thanks be to God,” he says “YES” right back to us—for eternity.

Trouble is, having accepted God’s big “YES,” we often respond with our little “no’s.” Paul lamented this reality in Romans chapter seven. Though wanting to respond to God’s “YES” by living a life worthy of our calling, the more we try, the more we become conscious of our failures.

Paul gives voice to this struggle: “I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing” (vv. 18b-19 NIV).

Even seasoned, mature Christians oppose themselves at times and so Paul continues the lament: “Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work in me. What a wretched man I am!” (vv. 21-24a).

Sounds hopeless, doesn’t it? But that is not where Paul ends—he had learned that God never gives up on us: “Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (vv. 24b-25).

When people oppose themselves, they think and behave as if they can cut themselves off from Christ. They are not living in communion with God even though their life, breath and movement is dependent on him (Acts 17:28). God is the sustainer of every life and no one lives outside of his relationship with them, whether they know of or acknowledge that relationship. God loves sinners. That is why he sent Jesus to save and redeem us. He will never give up on us and he never stops loving us.

The wonderfully reassuring dynamic of our relationship with and to God is that when we say “no” to his reconciling and saving “YES” to us in Christ, he won’t take our “no” for an answer. We cannot change the fact that God loves us and has, in Christ, reconciled himself to us. No matter how angry, disbelieving and denying we may be toward God, it does not change the reality that God is our Creator, Sustainer and Redeemer. God is faithful even when we oppose ourselves.

Your brother in Christ,

Joseph Tkach