Any of us can be great. Holiness requires no IQ test, wealth, or even victory. History has been and will be made by people of character who succeed in eternity even when they fail now. This is encouraging because there are no limits on us. Holiness is not a tiny, narrow, ugly thing, but a divine beauty that can burst the shell of our conventions, even our conventional morality, and make us great.
You can be a saint. God help me, I could be a saint. Where we fail short of glory, the shortfall will not be God’s fault, but our own. We do not want enough joy!
The next time you go to a Genie Jesus movie . . the kind where praying in the right room, in the proper way, loudly, makes everything come out in a tolerable way. . . you might read the book of Job or think about the legend of one of my favorite heroes of the faith: Eustace. The news is all good long term, though not so great short term.
Eustace was a decent man before he became a Christian and prosperous. He helped poor people and served his nation as a soldier. He was good the way any decent person, even an atheist with education in a classical culture, can be good. He followed reason and the laws of Nature and of Nature’s God. His heart yearned for more and God heard his heart’s cry.
God was so pleased with him that He made Eustace’s life miserable . . . so that Eustace could become truly great.
Eustace was hunting a great stag and finally cornered the beast. As he got ready to finish the animal, he saw a vision. A cross appeared between the antlers of the hart and Eustace heard a voice asking: “Why do you chase me?” Eustace asked the identity of the voice and learned the truth about Jesus. He went home and was never the same. God had transformed his heart and the soldier of the Empire became a warrior for Christ against the demons’ presumptions.
Humility is the one virtue that secularism cannot teach.
Eustace went from being a decent man to a great man. He learned in the fires of Job: all his riches and wealth were lost. He spent five years working as a common laborer. When the Empire needed the great soldier, he returned and won a great victory for the Emperor. At the moment of his triumph, Eustace was urged to worship the Roman gods for giving him the victory and he refused. This refusal led to his death and his death made him triumphant.
The life of Eustace is an epic lesson. Success in this world is nothing compared to success in the world to come. When we pray for God’s blessing, God has eternity in mind and not what we might want. God is King of Kings and is not as concerned about national victory now as He is with eternal justice.
Finally, the church contains history that is indisputable like the life of Jesus and the apostles. It also contains a pious epic history that is harder to “prove” historically, but still valuable for teaching. Did Eustace exist as Peter existed? I think so, but that is not the importance of his story which is fundamentally theological.
The great stag with the Cross between his antlers is an image of the hunted becoming the divine Hunter. The worldly rules were flipped. In the life of Great Eustace I find beauty, hope, and joy, because victory comes from defeat, riches from poverty, and success from failure.
The kingdoms of this world will become the Kingdom of God and of His Christ Jesus. And that is a theological fact certain to become a historical fact.
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