Have you ever had to defend your actions and beliefs? (Romans 12:2) Be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. We shouldn’t be afraid to stand up for who we are as Christians; we shouldn’t hide our identities simply because the world says we should. Unfortunately, our society tells us what we should be and turns its back on anyone who chooses to challenge that worldview.
God knows our hearts, compassion, perseverance, tenderness, intelligence, and talents. He doesn’t care about the clothes you wear, the car you drive, or the house you live in, because the things we have are not what make us Christians. Our love and what we give to others is what matters to Him. Our words, often used as weapons, show God where our minds are, and they set the environment for love or hate. Knowing our faults and that we will not always make the right decisions, He forgives us and offers us His grace.
We need to remember whose we are and who loves us. Sometimes, we feel like that lone boat in the middle of a large ocean filled with growling ships of hostile passengers. It’s not because of God that we feel this way; it’s because of the choices we make. Those choices are what determine whether our little boat moves forward to the light or backward toward the darkness.
In searching out individuals whom I feel are true heroes in our world, I came upon an intriguing movie called, “A Hidden Life.” I realize that not every person I have studied has gone above and beyond everyday expectations for the ordinary individual, but one such man was a young Austrian farmer with a wife and three children who put on the German uniform when he was called to serve in WWII but then saw that he could not do what the “anti-Christ Hitler” asked of him.
By refusing to return to duty to serve in this dishonorable campaign, he forfeited his family, his relationships with neighbors and the townspeople, and even his own life so that the Nazis could not claim “total control” over every single Austrian. Do you know evil when you see it? When you stand in the hills of your beloved country, do you see the storm coming? If you had a paint brush in your hand, would you have the courage to paint the real evil you see rather than trying to paint something that doesn’t exist? He was branded a traitor by the townspeople and was imprisoned for not serving in Hitler’s “band of Satan’s thugs.”
He believed that if he was faithful to God, God would be faithful to him and his family. His wife and priest said he couldn’t change the world and that he was not stronger than those who would persecute him. Trying to stop him from not serving in the army, the farmer’s mother told him to remember what it was like to be raised without a father. He should think about his children and how such a decision would affect them, let alone how lonely his wife would be. The farmer remembered his Christian teaching: what does it profit a man if he gains the world and loses his soul? His wife tried to persuade him to return to the army by reminding him of his love of the sunlight, the blue sky, the clouds, and the Austrian mountains. She told him his protest would not change anything in the world; they must make do with the present regime and hope for the best. What none of these loved ones realized is that the farmer wanted the best for his family and his home town; Hitler was not what was best for anything in Europe or Austria.
He believed it was better to suffer injustice than to do it. How many people have we read about that did Hitler’s bidding and then simply said they were following orders? At what point should your conscience tell you, “This is wrong?” As he was tortured, he often repeated the words of the 23rd Psalm. In his final court appearance before the German judge, his lawyer asked him to change his decision not to serve in the army, and the farmer responded, “I cannot do what I believe is wrong.” He was sentenced to death by decapitation in the local prison. Upon his death, his closest friend in the town walked to the church and continually rang the bell in the steeple. His wife’s response was that time would tell if his sacrifice was worth losing everything, if the world would come together to re-build their lives and plant the fields for an abundant harvest, and if all of the people of the world could be friends once more.
George Eliot in his, “Middlemarch,” wrote…”for the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs.” According to his family’s history, the farmer was doing what his father had done in WWI; he fought against the Germans in the Austro-Hungarian army and lost his life. The farmer was not willing to die for Hitler or anything else German in WWII because he believed in God first and foremost. Love is the answer to all our questions about right and wrong. The real question is are we willing to die for our souls and the souls of our loved ones. Are we willing to place God above everything else?
Anna Hartt
