When we have Christ's forgiveness and His gift of
righteousness, we have peace. We are no longer obsessed with having to prove
ourselves to the world. Instead, we grow in the assurance of our significance.
If we don't have this peace and assurance that comes through
Jesus, we are forced to find it from another source such as becoming a crusader
for the good of the world. When this idealism is driven by inner compulsion
inside of wisdom, the results are often costly.
Christian philosopher C.S. Lewis has observed that such
idealism is often more costly than purposeful criminality:
- Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.
The idealism of a desperate conscience is oppressive. Why?
Because its primarily focus is not on the needs of others but on the needs of
the self.
In contrast, when we are confident about God's love for us,
we are freed up to love others.
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