When my son was only four months old he contracted a virus
that led to a failure to breathe. In the desperate effort to re-start his
respiratory system, Will started seizing as they intubated. The paediatrician
was flummoxed. Thankfully, God answered prayer and the boy started breathing
again with manual assistance.
Doctors from Sick Kids Hospital arrived and were perplexed
by the seizing and the resultant comatose state. It was throwing off a
diagnosis. After questioning the attending paediatrician and nurses, they
thought Will might have been given an overdose of morphine when they had attempted
the intubation. There was one way to find out.
The doctor administered Narcan, an opioid antagonist that
quite suddenly nullifies the effects of drugs like morphine or heroine. Will
went from a comatose state right back to a crying baby in seconds. The effect
of the morphine was totally negated.
We were thankful for a great doctor team from Sick Kids and
a clear diagnosis.
I have often marvelled at that Narcan. It is strange to watch
a drug work so quickly and decisively. If you think about it, there are very
few changes in life that come about that suddenly. But there is one evil
element of church life that can be reversed almost as quickly with a kind of
spiritual Narcan.
We live in a suspicious society. We don’t trust politicians,
the police or clergy. We tend to think there is always more to the story than
others are letting on. It is the age of the conspiracy theorists – just watch
your TV tonight and you will see what I mean. And that suspicion can easily
ooze into the life of a church. Last time I checked, however, suspicion was not
a fruit of the Spirit. Thankfully, there is a spiritual Narcan to suspicion.
Love is a
suspicion antagonist. Why?
Love hopes all things.
Fundamental to real Christian love is thinking the best
about everyone. Love dwells on truth, not fiction. It anticipates that
Christians will respond and live like Christians, even if they haven’t in a
while. Love dismisses every conspiracy theory as rubbish and chooses to live
with the happy anticipation that a brother will come around soon enough. Love
lives in reality. Love is eager to forgive. Love is willing to be wronged. And love deals with the presenting facts, not the imagined motives or schemes of others.
If a church faithfully loves one another, suspicion flies
out the back door. This is virtually instantaneous, because you cannot be skeptical and trusting at the same time.
I can hear my critics already – even Jesus said be as shrewd
as serpents! I hear you. But he also told us to be as innocent as doves. How
can those two co-exist? The only explanation is Gospel-motivated love. Plus, Jesus
gave this dual-command to his disciples as they were about to take the Gospel out
into the world, not into the church
dinner.
The Apostle Paul knew what it was to be betrayed (2 Timothy
4:10), abandoned (Acts 15:38) and forgotten (2 Timothy 4:16); but he moved on,
forgave (2 Timothy 4:11) and persevered… in love. Even as he was instructing
the Philippians in love, he mentioned how some, out of their own selfish
ambition, were neglecting him in prison and trying to get the premier position
in that day’s celebrity pastor circuit. What does Paul say of them? Only what a
heart set free by love could say: “What then? Only that in every way, whether
in pretence or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice. Yes, and
I will rejoice…” (Philippians 1:18)
I fear that we are not doing enough in our churches to curb
the growth of suspicion. The poison of suspicion can only be drawn by love. And
that means we need to be preaching on, thinking about and living out love in
our own lives. Erasing suspicion starts with you, not your neighbour.
The Bible does not say, “Beloved, let us be leery of one
another.” Nor, “if we are cynical of one another, God abides in us and his love
is perfected in us.”
If you are going to err in this life, err on the side of
love. You may find you end up being a lot more like God in the long run.
