The Homestead Way of Life

Keep an Eternal Perspective

I have been re-reading "The Hiding Place" by Corrie Ten Boom.

For those who haven't read it, it is the story of how her entire family was sent to concentration camps during World War II.  Only Corrie survived.  They were devout Christians who harbored Jewish refugees as they tried to make their way out of Germany and escape the Nazi death camps.  When the Nazis found out what the Ten Boom family was doing, they were all arrested and sent to Ravensbruck.

I was deeply moved by the following passage:

"...Betsie and I made our way to the rear of the dormitory room where we held our worship "service"...and here an ever larger group of women gathered.  They were services like no others, these times in Barracks 28.  A single meeting might include a recital of the Magnificat in Latin by a group of Roman Catholics, a whispered hymn by some Lutherans, and a sotto-voce chant by Eastern Orthodox women.  At last either Betsie or I would open the Bible.  Because only the Hollanders could understand the Dutch text, we would translate aloud in German.  And then we would hear the life-giving words passed back along the aisles in French, Polish, Russian, Czech, back into Dutch.  They were little previews of heaven, these evenings beneath the light bulb.  I would think of Haarlem, each substantial church set behind its wrought-iron fence and its barrier of doctrine.  And I would know that in darkness, God's truth shines most clear."

As a believer of 26 years now, I have seen those "barriers of doctrine" divide Christians all too often.  I'm not talking about the essential doctrines of true Christianity, but the particulars, the preferences, the traditions, the "convictions" that many times are allowed to become paramount over and above the one common faith in Jesus Christ we all share.  Have you experienced the sting of being rejected, judged or measured by other believers solely on the basis of some non-essential pet doctrine?  Me too.  And I confess, with shame, I have rejected, judged and measured others as well.

But, as I read the above portion of the book, I was struck with a revelation that put things in an eternal perspective for me.  I thought about people in the past that had been judgmental toward me, or toward whom I had been judgmental.  I imagined us together in a prison cell, persecuted because, despite our differences, we both named the Name of Jesus Christ.  I know under those circumstances, every inconsequential "particular" would melt away and the Jesus we both loved and for Whom we both suffered would become all that mattered.

If you have been hurt, judged or unjustly measured by a fellow believer, I urge you to try this little exercise.  It was the most fervent prayer of our Master that we be "one" even as He and the Father are One.  Oh, let us strive to honor that prayer and see beyond the temporal!  God, grant to each of us an eternal perspective today.

Corrie ten Boom........

04:42, 2006-Mar-4 .. Posted by GrandmaRosie

One of the most Godly women I have ever read about. I have all her books. Such a heart for God.

We do tend to distrust something we do not understand fully or have never been exposed to before. God has soldiers in any number of denominations. Corrie's writings always convict me of my self centered ways .

Corrie ten Boom

08:05, 2006-Mar-6 .. Posted by LindaI

My favorite as a teenager. I read the Hiding Place over and over and a few other of her books. She is an amazing women.

How true...

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09:35, 2006-Mar-14 .. Posted by peacefulvalley

I appreciate that. I am fighting a bit against my situation, instead of just looking to God for how I can love Him and others through it.
Jennifer

Corrie Ten Boom

02:04, 2006-Apr-8 .. Posted by frugalmel

A very good reminder. I have friends in many denominations and its easy to get caught up in the petty differences. Thank you.