More Than Green Beer: St. Patrick Inspires More
A friend texted and saw the big drinking tents set up at a local bar. That’s when it dawned on him: St. Patrick’s Day falls on Sunday this year! I suppose some folk who might otherwise be in church will head to a drinking tent to start early on pints of green beer.
Once I discovered the truth about the man behind St. Patrick’s Day, I began to see the empty revelry associated with the day as a tragedy. Because there was a real dude named Patrick. And his life inspires so much more than getting hammered on green beer.
So nowadays I have this love/hate relationship with St. Patrick’s Day. Not just because I don’t like wearing green. And not because I’m not Irish (neither was Patrick, and the Catholic Church never made him a “Saint” either). I feel conflicted because there is so much to admire and learn from Patrick’s life, and yet his memory has largely been reduced to trivial references to leprechauns and clovers. And of course, green beer.
Do you have a moment to hear a true story of a humble person God used in a huge way?
I love Patrick’s story because he was just a humble person God used in a huge way.
In AD 390, when Patrick was sixteen years old his little village in Britain was horribly attacked by nasty marauding invaders from Ireland. These barbaric terrorists destroyed everything, stomping through the town with swords and torches. You can picture women and children crying, people dying. Patrick was violently captured and shipped back to Ireland where he was forced into slavery.
For years he worked in the barren wilderness of Ireland herding pigs. In his excellent book How the Irish Saved Civilization, Thomas Cahill describes the life Patrick lived in those years. “The work of such slave-shepherds was bitterly isolated, months at a time spent alone in the hills.”
Patrick had been raised in a Christian home, but he didn’t really believe in God. But it’s funny how dire circumstances can bring clarity. Additionally, Ireland was overrun with radical paganism, filled with druids and dark worship. He was hungry, lonely, frightened and bitterly cold. In that crucible of captivity and intense loneliness in a hostile place, Patrick was driven to God. He later wrote in his Confessions, “I would pray constantly during the daylight hours” and “the love of God…surrounded me more and more.” He grew in his prayer life with Christ and became strong in his faith.
Isn’t it amazing how often God uses the difficult times of our lives to draw us closer to him? God is always there, but we seem to find him in the hard stuff.
Are you in a desert place right now? Are you facing a hard time of loneliness, hardship, or separation? Surrounded by darkness? Do not forget all of your pain is preparing you. This is an opportunity to draw near to God.
It’s often when we are in the crucible of fire that we ourselves catch fire for God.
As a 22-year-old young man God told Patrick in a dream to return to Britain. Bravely, he listened – and left! God watched over his dangerous journey as he escaped Ireland, walking some 200 miles to catch a boat back home.
But as you might expect, Patrick was a different person now. He couldn’t settle back into his old life. God was at work in him. His heart was concerned for the Irish people. He felt God calling him back to Ireland! After some ministry training and preparation, he left his homeland, this time willingly, to go back to the very people who had treated him so cruelly.
When God gets hold of us, he can replace our bitterness with a burden. The people we can’t stand sometimes become the very ones we are called to love. Is God changing your heart toward someone? Or a group of people you were taught to hate? Is there someone who hurt you God might call you to show love toward?
Patrick spent the next 40 years in Ireland, leading one tribe after another out of the darkness of their hopeless paganism to the light and love of Jesus Christ. His impact in Ireland is astounding, reshaping that country to this day.
There is so much more to the story I’ll save for another time.
But here’s something important you need to know:
Patrick saying YES to God’s call to go to Ireland wasn’t just a nice thing for him to do. It changed the world.
As a result of his persistent, consistent and strategic ministry, nearly the whole of Ireland was converted to Christianity. What he didn’t realize was that while he was busy in isolated Ireland, far beyond the Emerald Isle Christianity on the rest of the planet was being stamped out. After many years, it was the Christians in Ireland who turned around and sent missionaries to Europe and so many other parts of the world, which then led to the spread of Christian faith all over the world, until today God’s church numbers in the billions.
Many historians believe it is not an exaggeration to say that if were not for the Celtic Christians in Ireland preserving the faith and sending those missionaries, the flame of Christian faith on planet earth would have been snuffed out.
And it all traces back to one man who heard from God and did what God asked.
Instead of just looking for green beer, what if we took inspiration from the life of Patrick this year?
Do you ever feel like “what difference does my little part make?” Patrick reminds us one person plus God can change a destiny, an eternity. You are that one person.
Are you in a bad place right now? Are you hurting? Feeling alone or scared? Look for God. He wants to use the mess, speak to you in it, and give you a calling out of it.
When you’re in the wilderness and nothing is familiar or friendly, listen for God’s voice. Use your own voice to speak with him.
Don’t be surprised when God turns your bitterness into a burden to love the very person or people you can’t stand. Go with it.
Say YES to God’s call. It can change the world.
It will certainly change you.
The same God who was with Patrick in his loneliness, is with you now.
The same God who turned his horrible life into a beautiful story can do that with your life, too.
The same God who used one man to impact millions wants to use you to impact others as well.
Everything changed when Patrick began to seek God. Are you seeking God? Are you listening to God’s voice? Are you ready to say YES in obedience when God speaks?
That’s something to take in this year that is so much better than green beer.