[AI translation] There are few men in the world who have suffered so much unjust persecution, undeserved abuse, malicious slander, imprisonment, beatings, all kinds of deprivation in their lives as the apostle Paul. His letters are full of descriptions of the most horrible experiences. Wherever he went, he was met with the darkest malice from the world. He was beaten in one place, chased away from another, stoned, imprisoned several times, constantly spied upon, and finally executed like a common villain. His life was spent in very bitter external circumstances. Added to this was a disease which was eating away at his bodily strength, and from which he could not even pray to be delivered. And once he had seen better days. Before his fateful encounter with Christ, he had a good job and a good salary, enjoyed a feared prestige, and was rising up the lofty line of a brilliant career. Then, on the road to Damascus, his career was suddenly and suddenly interrupted, he took a great fall from the worldly eye, and went from being a distinguished Pharisee to a common beggar of Christ.So he had plenty of experience of what it meant to be up and down, rich and poor, famous and disgraced, honoured and humiliated. Hence this testimony of his is worth very much: 'Not that I speak concerning my want: for I have learned to be content in those things wherein I am. I am able also to humble, I am able also to be content; I am acquainted with all things and with all things, with being well fed, with being hungry, with being content, with being poor. I have strength for all things in Christ who strengthens me." (Phil 4,11-13) This means that his joy, his inner, spiritual well-being, his happiness, is completely independent of his material situation, of the external circumstances of his life. This letter, too, is written from a Roman prison, and yet it is full of cheerfulness, hope and joy. It is almost as if he were writing with a smile on his face. What a mysterious source of strength above reason Christ must have been for him to be able to rejoice in the most disconsolate of situations! That this is not a simple matter is clear from the Word. He did not come to it all at once, he had to learn, he came to it after a very bitter experience of life, but now he can expand and contract, he is familiar with all these things. The exact translation of the original Greek word is: 'initiated' into the mystery of the knowledge of how to be generous, and especially how to be frugal.
This is the initiation that we too would very much need: to be initiated by the Lord God into the mystery of the knowledge of how to be generous and especially of how to be miserly. This is so important because today, the fate of the apostle Paul is very common. There are many people in Hungarian life today who once saw better days, who lived in a calm and secure financial situation, but now find themselves living from one day to the next in total uncertainty. In recent days, I have seen up close the lives of pensioners and B-listed people, the fate of families who have lost their jobs and their wealth, the stinging misery of civil servants, the suffocating struggle of workers to make ends meet. We all see and experience how the tide of poverty floods almost all of Hungarian life, how fathers and mothers struggle like men and women for a piece of bread, a pair of torn shoes, the most basic necessities of life, how their last remaining possessions are pawned or sold, how they are finally reduced to nothing. So many who were once on top, shining in the glow of respectability, now languish humiliated, poor, plundered, somewhere down in the depths. They have fallen hard, and the higher they fall, the more painfully they hit themselves. There are so many people today who have had to reduce the limits of their daily lives so much that one could say that this is the Hungarian fate today. Yes, the real Hungarian destiny today is deprivation and destitution! The question now is how we can fit into this fate.
The Apostle Paul says in our Word: 'I can be frugal, I have learned to be content in those things in which I am'. I can also humble myself..." (Phil 4:1-12) So, there is a doctrine of living in austerity. It is one thing to be able to scrimp and another to be forced to do so through gritted teeth. Paul did not endure prison through clenched teeth, but with a smile and full of hope. Yet his situation was equally hopeless. He was not consumed with the injustice that had been done to him, but it had been blatantly unjust! He could trust himself completely in the One whose fate on earth was even more bitter, the One to whom the most glaring injustice had been done: his Lord Jesus Christ - in the happy knowledge that all authority in heaven and earth had been given to Him! And he was not disappointed, he did not reckon wrong: the problem of need and destitution was solved for him, not by changing his fate, but by giving him superhuman strength to bear his predestined fate with a serene and peaceful spirit.
Well, my brothers and sisters, this superhuman strength is lacking today for so many needy people. In the absence of this power, one man grumbles, curses or swears, another loses his head and does something irredeemably stupid, a third becomes bitter, cynical or suicidal, a fourth is planning to emigrate far away. Some, in their helpless bitterness, live only in the hope of retribution; others, day after day, cry to those around them: see what we have come to, what we have become? There are those who say nothing, but who are in great psychological pain, whose deprivation and misery settle on their souls like a winter fog on this valley. The soul slowly loses its bearings, doubts arise, hopelessness plagues it, it collapses under the burden.
All this behaviour is very understandable and natural - human. But, my brothers and sisters, if this is the general Hungarian fate today, then it is obviously not by chance, but by God's will. So it is a predestined destiny, a destiny which cannot be escaped, which cannot be rebelled against, which cannot be bitter or despairing, but which must be borne and accepted with obedience and humility! And there is only one secret of this undertaking: the same as Paul: "I have strength for all things in Christ who strengthens me." (v. 14) This word "strengthen" is expressed in the Greek Bible by a word from which the word dynamite, or dynamo, is derived in Hungarian. Think of dynamite: what a powerful explosive force it is, or dynamo, which generates electricity! It produces the kind of energy that can do the dizziest things! Such mysterious power is the crucified and risen Christ: spiritual dynamite, the dynamo of the weary soul, the source of superhuman power. Just try it: touch it in deep, silent prayer: you will see some mysterious energy flowing out in your limp limbs! How, if you were to receive this heavenly dynamo into your heart, would your attitude to need suddenly change! For your greatest trouble is not that you are miserly, but that the burden of this miserliness is above you and your soul below, and so your soul is constantly pressed, stimulated by need, your nerves, until at last you are quite overwhelmed. But by the power of Christ, the situation can be changed: you can overcome all your burdens and afflictions spiritually. I was reading a letter one of my little boys wrote to the Lord Jesus just before Christmas. Among other things, he wrote: Lord Jesus, give Daddy the strength to laugh! That child is right! Why can't we adults ask the Lord so simply? Why can't many sad, discouraged, tired, hunched over, slowly forgetting to laugh, Hungarians ask the Lord Jesus for heavenly strength to overcome their desperate fate with confidence and serenity? For there is such power!
It is true for you too, as the Apostle Paul so happily testifies in our Word: 'I have power in Christ to do all things, who strengthens me'! You too can tap into this source of strength by taking your Bible and your prayers seriously! Only the riches of a redeemed life in Christ can compensate for earthly need without the pain of poverty. Only a soul that rejoices in Christ does not suffer from worldly hurts and injustices. Only a soul dependent on Christ can remain completely independent of all kinds of changing material and external circumstances! Only a man strengthened by Christ can be in need. While the other is forced to be destitute because he must, the man in Christ can do so with his head held high and his soul intact! And that is a big difference! This knowledge of scarcity means many things in practice. Above all, it means that I can entrust the question of justice or injustice in relation to my fate to the Eternal Judge, the Absolute Truth. I am freed from this gnawing question by the sure faith that He will do justice.
To know how to be needy by the power of Christ is also to dare to be needy, to dare to be poor, not to pretend not to be needy. He is not ashamed if his old clothes fall short of the latest fashions, he does not hide behind ostentatious misery that he cannot keep up with the nylon stockings, he does not deceive himself and others with false appearances, but dares and wills and is able to take on the common Hungarian destiny. So not only would he be ashamed and conceal his poverty, but in some respects he could even be proud of being part of the common Hungarian destiny! A man strengthened by Christ even finds good in need. He realizes more and more that he is forced to live by the hand of God; and he also realizes how good it is to live by the hand of God! In prosperity, we are willing to see God as a philosophical formula, One whom we do not seriously reckon with, but only acknowledge that He is in the world. Well: in need we are drawn to take God seriously. We begin to understand how much we cannot live without Him, how much we cannot be excluded from any area of our life! In need, God becomes a more tangible reality for us, and so we slowly learn to live by faith. We come to realize that even our material life has a much more secure foundation in the power of the Lord God than a good job, or a field, or a business!
He who is in relationship with Christ can never lose his head, because Christ is his head, and he will never be dizzy: neither from height nor from depth. We must and can bear much more through Christ than others can without Him! We must show ourselves in need how rich our Father is, how great our Saviour is, and how we have not yet become miserable beggars, even if we have been utterly plundered! By the power of Christ we can be enviable people even in the most desperate need!
Yes, this is what the art of knowing how to be needy means! Just look at the diver, dragging himself with difficulty in his diving suit, with his lead-soled boots and other heavy things on the dry land! But once he is in the water: the very weights that prevented him from moving "freely" ensure his balance and steady steps in the water. Immerse yourself in Christ with the heavy burdens of your Hungarian destiny, so that you are surrounded by Him everywhere! You will be able to move more easily and freely, the weight of your burdens will change, and you will not only be able to take charge of your destiny, but you will also be able to be thankful for it! You tired, poor Hungarian wanderer, an uplifting, happy miracle can happen to you too: you can have strength for all things in Christ, Who strengthens you too! If you will, if you let Him, if you ask Him again and again, and if you accept Christ into your heart!
Amen.
Date: 18 January 1948.
Lesson
2Kor 6,1-10