Ensign: Christianity For Vegans

All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3


AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 19 July 2013

Today’s title doesn’t refer to any inhabitants we may one day find on a star twenty-five light years from Earth (DC Comics has made a cottage industry out of that) but rather to people here on terra firma with a particular dietary preference. (Or am I supposed to say “lifestyle change” as I can never stick to a diet?) Where vegetarians are willing to do without meat, vegans go one step further and refuse to not only eat meat but also refuse to eat or wear or use any product that comes from an animal. To you who are vegans reading this, I’m sure I’m oversimplifying it. Please forgive me if and where I am.

Sometimes writing a devotional like this – I’ve heard pastors say this in a roundabout way, but it’s the same idea – is a delicate balance between teaching and edifying. We want to present something new or look at something you’re familiar with in a new way, but we don’t want to lose you with some obscure eschatological concept. (See what I mean?) We’re hardwired to make connections, to start with a specific person, place, thing, or idea and build from it.

Often our desire to not feel or act stupid – to paraphrase Mark Twain, we believe it’s better to be silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt – keeps us in place, doing nothing. When Paul wrote his first letter recorded in the New Testament to the church at Corinth (apparently he’d written another letter before this, per 1 Corinthians 5:9) he’d already heard of division within them. The pronoun choice is due to the church being an assembly of believers, not the building they meet in.

“And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.” Chapter three of 1 Corinthians opens after Paul’s greeting and praise of God and His wisdom followed by what the church that is claiming to represent Him doesn’t have. First, Paul’s telling them, this is a team effort; you shouldn’t be swayed to follow Apollos (another disciple who first appears in Acts) or me or anyone else, because all we’re doing is the planting and the watering.

To a non-industrial culture or anyone who’s gardened, verses five through eight would make sense; we don’t make the seeds grow, that is God’s responsibility. All anyone can do is open the door of opportunity for us. “For we are laborers together with God … I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereon.” Verses nine and ten make it clear that Paul is NOT claiming to be the foundation of the church, a common misconception especially to those who refuse to see anything miraculous in anyone.

“For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” By verse eleven, we already HAVE the foundation; our attempts to add to Jesus or take away from Him rather than accept Him or work from Him as He is, the Son of God and Savior, can only fail. Many of us try to do this today, add to Who Jesus is (e.g., we can accept him as human but not divine, or vice versa) but we don’t realize that we’re making Jesus into the person we want HIM to be, not becoming whom God His Father would have us be.

Who’s the person I want to be? I’ve learned the hard and painful way that to make – OK, earnestly desire for – someone to be more like me is a really low standard to set for them. Don’t we all want that for our kids, for them to turn out better than we are? Hence Paul turning, as all of us should be, attention off ourselves to the Spirit of God (the Holy Spirit) dwelling within us when we accept Who God is and as Jesus Christ what He’s done to clear the way to reach God Who’s already reaching out to us, to everybody. Vegans and everyone else have to start the walk with Jesus from there.

Glory to God,

David


P.S. I write this weekly devotional to keep in touch with all of you in my address book, and I hope to be an encourager too! If you find that I’m not or you want me to get lost, just let me know, thank you!


We praise You, Lord, for this beautiful day You have given us! Please pray with me for the peace of Jerusalem on both sides of the fence and for physical and spiritual communities around our world.


Lord, we need Your strength to fight the natural disasters and human ills to ultimately treat the cause and not just the symptoms; until we who have power change, this world You have made us stewards of won’t either.


Thank You, Lord, for all those in leadership and service here and abroad. Thank You for the opportunities we have been given as well as the promise of new life through Your Son. And may we all seek and have a blessed week! Amen.