The Open Door

As you receive this edition of The Christian Index, Southern Baptists will be gathering in San Antonio, Texas for the annual meeting of the Convention. Dr. Frank Page has served Southern Baptists well during the past year as he has literally traveled the world visiting mission stations, encouraging missionaries, being on the frontlines with our Disaster Relief personnel, attending multiplied meeting after meeting, writing, and speaking prolifically as he has held high Southern Baptists’ devotion to the Bible, to missions and evangelism, and to the Cooperative Program.

He has maintained this energetic schedule while continuing his effective leadership as senior pastor of Taylors First Baptist in Taylors, South Carolina. As I have traveled broadly throughout the past year I have heard nothing but praise for his faithful and conscientious leadership. Pray for Dr. Page as he presides over this year’s meeting. It’s a huge responsibility, but he is fully up to the task.

These are peculiar days in our world. War rages, not only in Iraq, but also in the streets of our own country. Fear dwells daily in the hearts of good people, innocent people. The images of man’s inhumanity to man reflected in the news haunt us continuously. People are on edge and express their rage on the highway, on the campus, in the office, and between celebrities on television.

We have stressed ourselves to the limit financially with a “got to have it” mentality that has maxed our credit cards and limited our financial obedience to God’s commands to give the tithe and more. Our egos are out of control. If we don’t believe that the image in the mirror is God, we certainly act as though we do. As believers who are often at odds with one another, we find ourselves shooting each other while the world around us is dying, lost and condemned without Jesus Christ.

Frankly, the only way to have peace in this environment is to have it through a life of deep, personal devotion to Christ. As a life-long Southern Baptist, I am a happy Southern Baptist. My joy in Christ has been enhanced, not depleted, by being a Southern Baptist. While I have not agreed with everyone, or everything, in the life of our Convention, I have made the choice to be devoted to the greater good rather than my own feelings or personal promotion.

It seems clear to me that our lifetime on earth is brief, at best, and I have made the intentional choice to spend my time preaching the Gospel of Christ, promoting and doing missions and evangelism, and doing all that I can to encourage our Southern Baptist churches to remain focused on being healthy Kingdom churches, engaged in Acts 1:8 missions, to the glory of God.

I do not have the capacity to understand those who have made the conscious, personal choice to spend their lives and influence attacking and undermining Southern Baptists missions, ministries, and money. I see people I believe to be Christians, who were angered by the conservative resurgence in the Southern Baptist Convention and decided during those years that whatever happened they would spend the rest of their days fighting Southern Baptists. What is wrong with us? Satan is what is wrong with us. This is not righteous indignation. This is unrighteousness.

The angst is not isolated to disputes between moderates and conservatives, now we have a variation of conservatives that are at war with each other over some very surprising issues such as alcohol and how we will support missions and the degree to which we will support Southern Baptist missions. It’s time for all of us to get a grip.

What shall we grip? Let’s get a grip on the Solid Rock, Jesus Christ, and not let go in this lifetime until we know that we have done everything we can to give everyone in the world a chance to hear and respond to the Gospel. Historically, that’s who we have been as Southern Baptists.

Well, what about those folks who have made the choice to be angry or simply to be antagonistic? Leave them to the Lord. No doubt, He will convict them for their attitudes and actions. Like the unfaithful servant who buried his talent in the ground and was not productive, they will be dealt with by the Lord. On the other hand, we will do well to choose to spend our days as happy Southern Baptists who find our greatest joy in serving Christ until we die.

I am praying for an annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention that has as its single goal to give glory to God.