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When we have Christ's forgiveness, love, 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 that we are beloved.
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 instead 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 to
prove their worthiness and goodness in the face of their accusing conscience.
Consequently, they become Hitlers, Maos, Stalins, and Pol Pots who sacrifice
everything and everyone in their mad dash to prove their significance.
In contrast, when we are confident of God's love, we are freed-up to love
others.
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