A while back, I read a biography of the fascinating Virginia Hall, who overcame
prejudice and physical handicap to become one of the most important allied spies in Nazi-occupied France. The book is called, “A Woman of No Importance,” and its author, Sonia Purnell, seems to be impressed with the quaint mixture of Virginia’s fearless resolve to overthrow the Germans and her personal moral integrity. Here was a woman who was passing intelligence to the British and organizing rescue missions while feeding her agents and laundering their clothes. In even the sharpest invectives found in her reports to Britain, she couldn’t bring herself to use swear words. She was a successful spy, but she was still a lady.
Virginia’s plight reminds me of the Christian’s situation. Here we are, straying pilgrims in a land not our own, striving by the grace of God to overcome the Enemy. In spite of the hardships that we might encounter, being anything less than holy is not an option. The apostle Peter wrote, “Beloved, I urge you as aliens and exiles to abstain from the desires of the flesh that wage war against the soul.” The war without is difficult enough. Why would we want to get embrangled in the conflict within?
That’s something to think about.
