As I mentioned recently, my long vacation this summer allowed me to finish reading a book I had been working on for many months, the second book of The Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant. One of the reasons I like reading this kind of fantasy literature is that it offers perspectives on life as we experience it, from a different context.

In this book, one character says, "You will understand...that neither I nor anyone may grasp the mind of this world's Creator. The needs and desires of that which is eternal surpass finite comprehension. Yet I deem that the Earth, and within it the Land, were formed as a habitation where living beings may gaze upon wonderment and terror, and seek to emulate or refuse them. The Earth and the Land are a dwelling-place where life may discover the highest in itself or the lowest, according to its desires and choices."

That statement sums up well my own perception of life as we experience it. God has not made us automatons who can choose only the good. Nor is the world of nature so pristine that we would judge it fully good. But we experience - we gaze upon - both wonderment and terror, all around us. And it is finally up to us which we will emulate and which we will reject.

It seems to me that Jesus is clear that the only hope we have in this world is if we reject evil's methods even as we seek to defeat evil. The only effective method to defeat evil, according to Jesus, is love that is willing to suffer or sacrifice for its own sake.

Like the Land Stephen Donaldson has portrayed in his Covenant trilogies, the world in which we live is a place where life may discover the highest in itself, or the lowest, according to its desires and choices.

In Jesus, we have seen revealed the highest that life has to offer. Unfortunately, the church's theology has, for far too long, treated Jesus as if he was the exception rather than the rule. And so the church has allowed Christians to profess the name of Jesus in one breath and to embrace the ways of the world in the next breath.

This is what John was talking about when he said (1 John 4:20), "Those who say, 'I love God,' and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars..." And, of course, Jesus made clear that our love is to be for all, not just for those who love us, and not just for those who look or talk or act like us.

One of my favorite hymns puts it in perspective for me. "I would be true, for there are those who trust me; I would be pure, for there are those who care; I would be strong, for there is much to suffer; I would be brave, for there is much to dare."

"I would be friend of all, the foe, the friendless; I would be giving, and forget the gift; I would be humble, for I know my weakness; I would look up, and laugh, and love, and live."

"I would be prayerful through each busy moment; I would be constantly in touch with God; I would be tuned to sense God's slightest whisper; I would have faith to keep the path Christ trod."

It is my conviction that much of the church has abandoned this simple faith of discipleship to Jesus. It has become all about how I can get to heaven. Well, that is not the faith that Jesus taught. His was a faith that worked for the redemption of this world and all who dwell in it. He invited his disciples to walk in his footsteps and to carry on the work he began.

The way of Jesus is not highly popular because it is so difficult. It calls for us to sacrifice - to work for the benefit of others as much as or more than for ourselves. One political wonk (Jonathan Hoenig) was recently quoted as saying that such sacrifice is downright un-American.

I would hope, of course, that what matters most to us who follow Jesus is not whether we are true to our national identity, but whether we are true to our Savior.