Life, Hans Mast, Nonresistance, and Work (Ramblings)
September 21st, 2008Well, I just realized that the last post on this blog was in Mexico. That was a long time ago. I am not in Mexico. Much water has made it’s proverbial voyage under my bridge. Now I am at home working, learning, and teaching.
Recently while reading Hans Mast, I thought about how politically involved he is considering the fact that he is a Nonresistant Mennonite. This post and the comments to it really got me thinking about it more. It is interesting to see what one “liberal Mennonite” has to say about the ACE curriculum used in many of our schools and the way that many young people coming into RBC are not so sure about nonresistance anymore.
Looking at the history of the Anabaptists, it is easy to see a trend toward losing this valuable piece of the Gospel. Most often, all but the most conservative Anabaptist churches have become caught up the the popular wars of their day, for example, some Mennonites on both sides in WWII.
As we become more acculturated, it becomes more difficult to hold positions that are not popular to the general public. At the moment, it is pretty easy for me to take a nonresistant position. But if the US would get into a total war that had the population behind it, then it would be much harder for me to hold that position in the face of outsiders.
Recently I was wondering to myself, Who are the great men and women of our day? There tends to be a disconnect between the great men of history and our ability to be like them today. We think that they were on some lofty level spiritually that we could never obtain, but they were just real, average people like you and me. Our callings are different, but we can be the great men and women of our day.
God has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness. Take that and go with it. The world needs people who are filled with life that comes from God. Follow Him and He will fill you, use you in great ways whether or not you can see results.
This week, I plan to by His grace, “…Work heartily as to the Lord and not as to men.”













































