Cost

The Lord desires for us to surrender our hearts to Him - to put aside selfish ambition in order to
receive what He wants to release in and through us. In Ephesians 5, Paul wrote:
1 Therefore be imitators of God as dear children.
2 And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.

The way is clear - we are called and empowered to reflect the nature of God.  We know the way in which we are to walk because He has given us His Word and His Spirit, activating our conscience to be able to discern what He intends.  He wants us to walk with clarity, demonstrating that we know Him by following His commands.  And, we know there will be a cost - but Jesus gave His life as a sacrifice and calls us to be living sacrifices, for His glory and honor.

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In John 12, Jesus taught about the importance of being willing to surrender all that we are and that we have in order to follow the will of the Father...in His case, it was to be crucified; in ours, to identify
with His crucifixion by living the surrendered life:
25 He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.
26 If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor.
27 "Now My soul is troubled, and what shall I say? 'Father, save Me from this hour'? But for this purpose I came to this hour.
28 Father, glorify Your name." Then a voice came from heaven, saying, "I have both glorified it and will glorify it again."

There's an interesting story that has emerged in the midst of the fallout over the recent British Parliamentary elections, which saw Prime Minister Teresa May's majority decline; definitely not the result she had in mind when she called for those elections long before she could have.

Well, just this week, the leader of the United Kingdom's Liberal Democrat party, Tim Farron, suddenly resigned.  Here's what he said, according to a piece on the Christianity Today website:
“To be a political leader—especially of a progressive, liberal party in 2017—and to live as a committed Christian, to hold faithfully to the Bible’s teaching, has felt impossible for me..."

The article states that "An evangelical amid Anglicans, he faced accusations of harboring conservative theology within the liberal party, even when he made his liberal views clear."  For instance, the CT story refers to a story on the Guardian website from 2015, which reported on his response to a question related to the sinfulness of homosexuality, which quotes a Labour party deputy leader, Ben Bradshaw.  The story says:

Just one day into his role as leader, Farron on Friday night repeatedly avoided answering whether he regarded gay sex as a sin during a live television interview with Channel 4 News, saying that to “understand Christianity is to understand that we are all sinners”.

“For a Liberal, I thought his position seemed incredibly illiberal,” Bradshaw told Sky News. “Look, I don’t think you should condemn someone or feel they’re not fit for office just because they have religious faith. I’m a practising Anglican. I happen to be a liberal kind of Anglican, rather than a conservative evangelical, which it appears Tim Farron is.”

But, Farron has apparently been clear about his views in support of same-sex marriage, while avoiding comments about the sin issue.  Sounds like a possible internal conflict here...

Nick Spencer, research director with London-based Christian think tank Theos, is quoted as saying: “He could have slipped out the back door quietly, but instead chose to return to the moments of the election that were most uncomfortable for him: the interrogations he faced about his faith and his attitude to issues of human sexuality."  He added, "His conviction that his faith provoked a suspicion and intolerance among so-called ‘liberals’ is both an indictment and warning to our public life in Britain."

In his resignation speech, Farron stated:

To be a political leader—especially of a progressive, liberal party in 2017—and to live as a committed Christian, to hold faithfully to the Bible's teaching, has felt impossible for me. I'm a liberal to my finger tips, and that liberalism means that I am passionate about defending the rights and liberties of people who believe different things to me. There are Christians in politics who take the view that they should impose the tenets of faith on society, but I have not taken that approach because I disagree with it—it’s not liberal and it is counterproductive when it comes to advancing the gospel.

The Christianity Today article also quotes Dave Landrum, director of advocacy for the Evangelical Alliance in the UK, who said, "More than what Tim Farron espoused or how he had voted, he was pursued for what he believes, what he thinks.”

CT writer Kate Shellnutt said:

The pressure Farron felt rings familiar to American evangelicals, who are continually grappling with their place in public life and the future for their convictions. Earlier this month, a Trump administration appointee was challenged during his confirmation hearing over his belief in salvation through Christ alone. 

So, while I find myself at odds with some of the statements of Mr. Farron, his view of liberalism does seem to be different than what it has come to mean in America.  The liberals of today, in so many cases, require people to accept their points of view, while being intolerant of the views of others. Farron's brand of liberalism includes this tenet: "I am passionate about defending the rights and liberties of people who believe different things to me."  Interestingly enough, it seems he ran up against some more American-style liberals who did not allow him to retain or express his personal faith views.

There are certainly some valuable points to consider here.  One has to do with matters of conscience. Ultimately, Farron was torn by the conflict between being a political leader and a Christian example. He just could not find the balance.  And, so rather than live a life of duplicity, he chose to step away. He was lauded by Andrew Wilson, a British pastor and CT columnist, who described Farron’s resignation as “extraordinary, brave, and principled.”  Sometimes, an internal conflict will result in the necessity for action.  The challenge for each of us is to make sure that we are following our conscience, which is activated by the Holy Spirit, so that we act according to our deeply held Biblical beliefs.

There are two other words at play: clarity and cost.  We need to be clear about what we believe, and act according to those convictions, even though it may involve a cost.  Jesus called His disciples to bear the weight of sacrifice; to "take up our cross" and follow Him.  Our attempt to walk that road, following the clear direction of Scripture, may involve laying something down: our position, our power, our resources, sometimes even relationships.  But, obedience carries with it a rich reward and opens us up to greater blessings in the future.