There is nothing more difficult to
take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than
to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things.
Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince,
chapter 6.
Was this ever true? Since anyone can
point out shortcomings of the current order, it seems far easier to persuade
the public that a new initiative will make the world better. The harder task is to continue existing
activities, imperfect though they be.
The Washington Metro illustrates this.
Since it started in 1969, it has since accumulated a deferred maintenance
liability of billions of dollars. [Deferred maintenance is the practice of
postponing maintenance activities such as repairs on both real property (i.e.
infrastructure) and personal property (i.e. machinery) in order to save costs,
meet budget funding levels, or realign available budget monies.] Simultaneously, there is massive construction
to extend the silver line, recently brought to Reston, as far as Dulles Airport
and beyond it to Ashburn. The cost of this extension is estimated at $5.6 to
$6.8 billion. The metro board is struggling to close the operating budget
(approx. $1.7 billion in 2015) which doesn't support desperately needed
O&M, so services are cut which further reduces revenue from ridership. On
top of this come revelations about pencil-whipped inspections and other lapses
in basic O&M practices. Metro's future is very much in the hands of its
leadership. Perhaps this is not a death spiral, but it illustrates the
comparative difficulty of continuing the existing regime vs. a new initiative.
Turning to the spiritual realm, it is
sometimes easy to persuade people to turn to Christ. The gospel is good news!
Jesus invites a change of allegiance that offers real benefits. The gospel is
not about lifestyle improvement, but that God loves us and Jesus died to
deliver us from our sins. However, He has constructed the world in such a way
that leaving our sins to practice righteousness pays off tangibly.
The challenge is that after passing
miraculously through the Red Sea to escape the Egyptian army (a type of baptism
and escape from the power of sin), we have to march through the desert. God's
purpose in this process is to get us to abandon the behaviors, attitudes, and
practices that were ingrained into us when we were slaves to sin (Egypt). He
calls and leads us to moderate and ultimately abandon all self-related
attributes: self-centeredness, self-indulgence, self-righteousness, self-sufficiency,
and self-will; these all have to go. Jesus is so serious about this that He
will bring it to pass through His sovereign power. If we receive His pastoral
care willingly, we experience far less pain and drama than if we force Him to
drag us kicking and screaming across the goal line. Once we receive Christ,
those are our only real alternatives. He will have His way.
There seem to be three phases to
living and growing in Christ:
•
Childhood - learning the milk of the
faith and experiencing God's grace. (Hebrews 5:13-6:2)
•
Adolescence - discipline and growth -
learning hard lessons (Hebrews 12:4-11)
•
Maturity - forsaking all else for the
sake of knowing Christ. (Phil 3:8-11)
If Machiavelli was speaking
metaphorically about Jesus, the Prince of Peace, then he misunderstood how hard
it is for us to stay the course in growth to Christian maturity. Alternatively,
if he was writing about how hard it is for Christ to change us, to transform us
into His likeness, he is dead-on. Perhaps the reason for this ambiguity is that
in the Renaissance world continuity meant not changing, but in God's kingdom
the essence of continuing the Christian walk is change - transformation - as
God works in our life.
Why is this so important to God? In
one of His letters to Wormwood (a low-level demon), C.S. Lewis has Screwtape
(an overseeing demon) write that God wants to fill the universe with loathsome
little replicas of Himself. That astute observation hints at God's purpose in
our lives. He does not want robots or servile slaves, but free moral agents who
voluntarily choose to take on His values, character attributes, and behavior.
God's patience and perseverance in this matter is drawn from the infinite
reservoir of His divine purpose: Ultimately, the life of the Trinity will be
reproduced, for eternity, in the lives of those who receive Him.
