I Love Me Some William Wilberforce*

Too often, we Christians feel a vague affinity towards being "do-gooders", forgetting why we have this desire and neglecting to trace the feeling to its cause: Christ's genuine compassion on his creation. Just as any culture has its perceptions of good, evil, and acceptable behavior, Christian culture has its own take on how we are to act towards the world around us. But can true compassion come from morality that has become mere habit? William Wilberforce** didn't think so, and neither do I. As he puts it, "there is no substitute for the love of God being our highest purpose."

Christianity is not just a system of ethics, dictating to our conscience what is right and wrong, leaving us to our own devices for how to act on what we know. Wilberforce felt a strong need to impress upon Christians of his day the relevance which faith should have on our emotions and our understanding of life. We should not be performing good works like lifeless robots, but thinking, feeling, passionate people who pursue godly living not to avoid pricks of conscience but for the joy of giving Him pleasure.

"We live in a state of cultural decline. A dry, unanimated religiosity does not have the ability to inspire the masses…[True faith should] know no social boundaries." (Real Christianity) The change that Wilberforce brought to the world through the abolishment of the British slave trade was not merely the result of dutifully taking action for a cause. It was the outworking of his genuine compassion for the oppressed. That compassion comes from the heart of God – a heart which is accessed by devotion, not duty.

Wilberforce aptly summarizes what real Christianity entails: "Keep a close watch on your heart. Don't get entangled in immorality. Do the next indicated thing God seems to be leading you to do. Attempt to be an imitator of Christ in your behavior. His goal was to always to do the will of the Father. Yours should be the same. Do justice. Show mercy. Be about the Father's business… Live like you love Jesus! [And] do it with more gusto than the people of this age pursue fame, fortune and power."

Until next time, God bless!

~Emily

ihsionline.org

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

*Long ago (I was about 18 at the time, so obviously it wasn’t too long ago) in a land far away (America), I wrote for a Christian online magazine called Infuzemag.com, which is now defunct/dead/altogether-past-tense. Part of the “job” (it was a volunteer position) was doing book reviews and editorial pieces, which sometimes meant getting free books! I loved it. Besides an improved resume and work experience, one of the coolest things about the job was getting to read Real Christianity, a modernized version of a book by William Wilberforce. I recently came across the review I had written for the book, and rereading it is where the above musings came from.

**William Wilberforce was a British parliamentary member in the 1900's who played a major role in the demise of the English slave trade. Wilberforce was not just an eloquent advocate of social justice, but also a gifted writer with a hunger for spiritual truth.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~