The cost of following Jesus
Apparently, these days it can cost up to a million dollars.
A recent BreakPoint commentary informs us that trying to make a difference can be costly in ways that we might not expect. Barry Lynn and the Americans United For Separation of Church and State (AU) are using lawsuits (instead of reasoning and working it out with Prison Fellowship) to try to bring about an end to the InnerChange Freedom Initiative program (and the resulting transformed lives of prisoners apparently).
Read more about it here…
I have yet to understand how AU’s tactics aren’t resulting in them doing the enemy’s work, and how God working through the IFI program to transform prisoner’s lives results in man getting the glory and not God - something that any believer would celebrate instead of legislate against.
Matthew 25:42-45
For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’
“They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’
“He will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’
*update* - 6/6/06
The judge has ruled against the IFI program and ordered that the program be shut down in sixty days and that IFI and Prison Fellowship pay back the state of Iowa $1.5 million.
So, for the record, Prison Fellowship not only has a million dollars in legal fees due to the AU lawsuit, but a judge order has potentially added 1.5 million to that total. When all the debate is over on a case like this, who can we say wins? Who loses? The fact remains that the IFI program was reaching people for Christ. God is working through it to change lives for all eternity. He alone deserves the glory for that. So, can God be pleased when our reaction is one of lawsuits and attempts to shut it down?
*update* - 6/13/06
*update* - 6/21/06
*update* - 6/30/06
*update* - 8/30/06
Tags: News and Media, Theology
