Nothing in this human existence matters on a par with the Presence of the Holy Spirit. Of course, His absence also matters. But it’s not all or nothing in the sense of how His Presence affects us. There is that huge factor of how well we go along with His guidance. That’s the point of pursuing peace with God (shalom).
But once we establish that reality, there is nothing else in human existence that matters on that level. Your talents and intelligence have no bearing on the issue of peace with God. You may have competitive advantages or disadvantages in almost every other aspect of human existence, but none of that matters in Eternity, nor peace with God here below.
If you do not understand shalom as the summum bonum of life here, then you don’t understand anything that matters.
I have only a rough idea of what my IQ might be if it were measured. I don’t care. And while my flesh may be intimidated, my heart is not the least bit concerned about people who have a higher score. The only way I’ll offer them any respect is if their intelligence is in service to our Lord. Without a rather evident shalom, they are fools by definition.
There is no conclusive test from outside a person’s soul. You cannot know about someone else’s election. Scripture does offer a few indicators to what we might look for in someone else, but it’s only a functional estimate.
For example, in written works, I look first for humility. If your writing doesn’t indicate humility and some level of self-effacing, I must assume you don’t know the Holy Spirit very well.
Granted, I’m not talking about someone who is a pushover. A potent sense of divine calling will fill you with confidence and authority. That is not inconsistent with humility, though our western heritage tends to view the two as opposites. Boldness is not arrogance. It means you have no doubt your God is behind whatever He commands you to do, and you are not afraid of the idea that He will let you fail. You rather expect to fail in one sense or another, simply because this fallen existence is accursed as a whole. But arrogance leaves no room for even acknowledging failure in any way, whereas confidence and humility means you know better than to invest in something that isn’t part of your mission.
Another is a sense of compassion for those who suffer, and a genuine affection for fellow believers. In a broad general sense, there must also be a sense of accountability to the Scripture. That ends up being almost the same thing, since Scripture makes so very much of affection for your faith family. Again, love is not defined as doting, but of genuine concern for the welfare of another, whether you can do any good or not. See the previous paragraph for deciding when you can do any good.
Somewhere down the line from those essentials, I admire a spirit of adventure. Would you be willing to jump onto an impossible task simply because you know that obedience is the one thing at stake? Success is simply not a major consideration. The only success in the Kingdom of Heaven is your willingness, your merciless execution of the fleshly nature so that your heart can take the lead. Are you open to a divine call to fail? Do you understand that our response to spiritual and moral challenge is what glorifies the Lord, not whether we can accomplish something humans can discern without the Holy Spirit?
In general, there are more than enough statements in the New Testament about what Christian conduct should be. People who advocate for any form of moral laxity are not your covenant family. They might be allies on some level, but nothing closer. Never mind their protestations, they are not “fellow Christians” because they don’t actually follow His teaching.
You need not consider me a Christian brother if you hold to different standards. I rather expect you wouldn’t. There’s no insult in this; it’s just the way we are required to operate. The point is that you have looked at the issue, and that you have standards for deciding who is and isn’t family of faith. You should be humble enough to recognize it’s your best estimate, not something that you would declare universally for everyone else.
Allies are people with whom you have some substantial differences, but due to the situation, you need to find a way to work alongside of them on a particular issue in our human existence. Thus, I might declare Catholics allies on this or that social concern, but otherwise not covenant family. I have no call from God to be harsh or difficult with Mormons, and even some pagans are harmless to the gospel message. There’s no particular push in the Bible against a truce with people who stay out of the way.
And there is certainly no gospel requirement to rule over anyone in human affairs. We have no business getting involved in human government unless/until we are talking about a covenant nation. There are none in this world right now.
The significance of the Christian Reconstructionist movement in Moscow, Idaho is that it may come to constitute at least an approach to covenant government of some kind. As long as they expect to stay under the US Constitution, that won’t happen. But should the Union come apart, that could change in the American Redoubt. We should keep watching.
