An Unabsorbed Identity

Scripture References: Exodus 6:7-8; John 9:5

William of Normandy conquered only English land, not English hearts. Nor did he ever enjoy his triumph. By giving English land to Norman gentry, he antagonized his subjects. By brutally oppressing them, he destroyed any hope of reconciling them. Five years after the conquest he was still extinguishing fires of revolt.

In a national denial of his aims, England retained its identity despite an importation of two hundred thousand Frenchmen and the death of three hundred thousand Englishmen by starvation and execution. The people yielded allegiance only to their values, identity, and culture, making captive their captors by absorbing them into their character and making them a new kind of Englishman.

In a world hostile to Christian witness and values, God’s children must preserve the distinctions that separate them from the lost. The Christ who ineradicably impacted his generation impacts each succeeding generation by reproducing in his followers his Galilean life. By having the mind of Christ, we help unsaved mortals become a new kind of human being, creating from the corrupt a redeemed nature, from the wild a cultivated impulse, from the primitive a sophisticated partisan. When God through Christ opened himself to our need, he opened our hearts to his presence.

Courtesy of Speaker’s Sourcebook of New Illustrations by Virgil Hurley © 1995 by Word, Incorporated.
Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the New King James Version®, NKJV © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.