Dan Czaplewski posted on March 09, 2009 12:05
I saw a copy of a letter from the World Mission people of our national Church body. There was a chilling quote in that letter:
“It is true that the present economic conditions throughout the world induce us, if we do not keep our vision clear, to curtail our church activities. No doubt, money is more scarce than in previous years. All the more, we must keep before us the lesson of history: first, that the more evil the days, the greater the prospect of success in our Christian work; and secondly, that when children of God are eager to promote their Savior’s glory, the Lord supplies the necessary means and blesses them.”
The astounding part about those words is who said them. Those words were written by Dr. Frederich Pfotenhauer, then President of the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod, in his report to the Synod convention in 1932. It might be helpful to remember that the darkest days of the Great Depression were in 1932.
I do not intend these words to be an appeal for funds, but I invite you to focus on Dr. Pfotenhauer’s words: “the more evil the days, the greater the prospect of success in our Christian work…”
Many people are hurting for a variety of reasons at this time. Even those who aren’t impacted directly by high unemployment or a declining stock market, are feeling the effects of our economic downturn. The worst effect of our current situation is a pervasive fear and nearly universal apprehension about the future.
Christians have two things going for us. First, as St. Paul reminds us, “I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love which Christ Jesus our Lord shows us.” (Romans 8:38a)
The second thing that we have going for us is that the message of hope that is ours in Jesus Christ may be getting the most sincere hearing in our life times. “The more evil the days, the greater the prospect of success.” We have a message of hope in hardship and a peace that passes all human understanding. Security in material things is proving increasing insecure and there is a willingness to discuss spiritual things.
There is no doubt that times are bad. Believers in Christ are even more certain that we have good news in these bad times.