A Secret Agent

What I love about secret agents is not the popular fiction rubbish. I'm not enamored with the fast cars, steamy romances, or a glittery life.

In fiction, I like the calm, cool-thinking of Danger Man John Drake or the poetic melancholy of George Smiley. For reality, I enjoy the accounts of war spies or more recent agents.

Yes, my pulses race with the secret gadgets, master disguises, and living-on-the-edge escapes; although, most of their tasks, like ours, take place in the mundane, daily routine.

I also appreciate their loneliness. Unlike James Bond, their exploits are rarely applauded. Most of their life-altering decisions are archived in the never-see-daylight vaults of agent history.

In the States, it is common for various governing authorities to undermine these agencies, to criticize, to tie their hands, to demand the impossible. When a traitor is exposed, the taint reflects on the faces of all the service.

So, why these reflections?

Several friends and aquaintances of mine are fighting silent battles. Some have diseases with names that attack muscles or joints; some are a nameless torture of the body and mind. Some are mental illnesses. All work as isolators, making their victim feel cut off from the rest of the world...alone.

In a way, I think every individual feels this aloneness. Sicknesses of mind or body excentuate the reality that already exists.

True communication demands mental alertness, emotional sensitivity, and the unity of verbal and non-verbal signals. When exhaustion dulls one aspect of this combined effort, misunderstanding glares out of another's eyes. If the exhaustion persists, one may shy away from this affect and simply pull inside themselves.

How does this tie in with thoughts of a secret agent?

In the Christian realm, more than in general life, I think we're all like secret agents. All have a goal from an authority the watching world can't recognize (albeit a Perfect One). We have assignments that are given to us individually. We live all over the world, but are not regular citizens of any place. We have weapons that are silent and unseen and may look harmless, such as our sword—the Bible; we alone have experienced the power it can wield against unseen forces.Our unity of purpose is vital for success. One traitor, hypocrite, in our midst casts years of angry accusations on Christianity as a whole.

As fellow agents, it is vital that we back each other up in the fight.

But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called "Today," so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. (Hebrews 3:13)

We must provide each other with the equipment that will allow for the success of the mission.

And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. (Hebrews 10:24)

We provide the celebrations and the mourning for successes and failures, because our work depends on each other. We are not islands.

Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. (Romans12:15)

This is where the sick agent, the mentally worn agent needs the most support. We are not to quit reaching out, because we seem to have no success. We need to bear with them in suffering, even if we go around in circles.

Now we who are strong ought to bear the weaknesses of those without strength and not just please ourselves. (Romans 15:1)

The difference is our Director of Intelligence doesn't retire us to the shelf when we are weak, when our best years are behind us, when we have nothing left to give.

This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. (Hebrews 4:15)

The world believes in survival of the fittest. But for those born again by Jesus, the weak are indispensible.

Every Christian community must know that not only do the weak need the strong, but also that the strong cannot exist without the weak. The elimination of the weak is the death of the community. ~Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together

Do you feel weak today? Jesus said, "Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest."

Do you feel strong and full of hope?  Wrap your arm around someone who is discouraged and help to lift them. Leave off the advice and learn to listen. Your hope will infuse them best by listening to their heart.

If you feel alone, reach out to a community of Christians around you. While we complete our missions here, we will always carry around the loneliness that sin has brought upon this world, but some day our unity with God and with each other will be complete. Some day, He will wipe every tear from our eyes. "There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." (Revelation 21:4)

You are here on assignment. Be faithful to the mission He has made you to do.