“How does fear (and its related egotisms) hold you back from being your true and truly alive self and from sharing yourself and your gifts … and, with the knowledge that fear can sometimes be painfully extreme, are you ready for the heroic struggle (a battle royale) to overcome it and live beyond it?” (Jeff Goldblum, actor, Performances Magazine, October 2012).
Last year I was challenged by Goldblum’s rhetorical question in the theater program for the play Seminar. While it may not have been intended as a spiritual musing, my thought at that moment turned to something that was. It was a letter, attributed to St. Paul, to Timothy: “Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine” (II Timothy 4:2). According to The New Living Translation, “In season and out of season” translates as “at all times and at all places.” And Barnes Notes makes a significant addition, “ … whether it be convenient or not.”
In other words we need to be ready, whether it be convenient or not, to present what we know to be spiritually correct according to the truth taught by Christ Jesus, and do so as though it were an emergency (exhort). And we need to continue in this manner with the authority of law (doctrine). That, to me, is the “heroic struggle” which characterizes the way in which the spiritually inspired do the right thing for the right reason.
