To live for your principles, asks more than handing out a few food parcels as a volunteer
by Stephan Joubert
It is the “in thing” to talk about Madiba. Rightly so. While everyone is remembering his indelible impact on the world, and honoring him for this, Barack Obama reminded us of Madiba’s humanity in his phenomenal eulogy — that before he started taking selfies with other state-heads. Howsoever, Obama is right that Nelson Mandela is no marble statue. He was a human in flesh and blood. He was willing to pay the highest price for his principles. He was true to himself to the very end. Like the main character in one of my prescribed books at school, Bart Nel, Madiba walked by the light he saw!
What a choice to make to live for your principles. It is easy to do a little piece of community service in your spare time. Or to be a volunteer now and again, distributing some food parcels. Or to give away a few extra cents around Christmas, but when the you calculate the cost to stand and walk the line for your principles, all the rules change. Jesus was referring to this type of life when He came to us and said “Follow Me!” It is easy to follow that innocent Christmas—Jesus in the manger. Even the cows and the “little drummer boy” can do that. We like our silent nights, clean-shaven shepherds, baroque-angels, perfumed visitors to the manger, and the festive meal on Christmas day. But that’s not who Jesus is. He is also the Lord who is no his way to the cursed cross of Calgary. He is underway from the manger to the way of humiliation and death. That’s where He calls us! Even here during the festive season!