Christians Need To Be More Offensive

 Trying to find God truly is like trying to catch vapor or the wind. Every time you think you can pin him down or label him or catch him, he slips right through your fingers, yells "gotcha!" and scampers off in a random direction, leaving you bewildered and questioning the things you think you know about him.

I was reading the beattitudes yesterday and came across this one--
Luke 6:26--"Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for their fathers used to treat the false prophets in the same way."

This is one of those verses that makes me think, "What the hell am I doing with my life?" I don't even have one enemy (to my knowledge). Does that make me a poor catalyst for the kingdom of God? After reading through the rest of the beatitudes (Luke 6: 20-38), and seeing the verse in it's context, it's pretty obvious what Jesus is getting at. Being a follow of Jesus comes with strife, difficulty, sacrifice, death, mourning, hunger, and more. It is not easy. But when we can engage in the difficulty and find the face of Christ in it--that's when the true blessings of Christ are received. So, I got to thinking about verse 26, specifically. I got to thinking about Jesus and how "he did not come to bring peace on earth, but a sword Mt. 10:34)". And how usually, after preaching, everyone wanted to stone him or kill him or throw him off a cliff. When we read the things he said now, we think, "That's not even shocking or offensive, why was everyone freaking out so much?"  It's because everything he was saying during those times were things that were disturbing, realistic, dynamic, unprecedented and raw. Aka--truth. Anyway, you guys all know these things. But here's my question and conversation starter--

If Christ, when he came to Earth, came to bring truth, which caused division and upset...as Christians, wouldn't he expect us to do the same? Not going around picking a fight (that's just stupid and arrogant), but speaking truth when truth is needed. When truth needs to be spoken and represented in a situation. How often do we, because of our fear of being seen as "pushy Christians", pull the "grace and forgiveness" card and keep quiet and peaceful, when raw truth is necessary? What's so bad about offending/getting offended? It rustles feathers, it stirs uncomfortable feelings, it makes people think. If anything, that's good. Great, actually. What am I getting at--If we can't be the kind of followers of Christ who aren't afraid of division, then we can't truly follow him. Because he was offensive.

The second level to this question is, if Jesus' preaching  Jew and Gentile equality, or grace vs. law was enough to get him thrown off a cliff in his day and age, then what is the equivalent to that in our day and age? What truth that needs to be shared would make people so uncomfortable and offended that they would want to punch you in the face (and I'm talking about TRUTH from God, not something out of our own perception and pretension)? Pray about it. Ask God to help your thinking and actions to be ever evolving, creative, new and truth-filled. As him to help so that you can be a tool to bring the kingdom of heaven to Earth. Because as unchanging and steadfast as our God is, he's also fiery and an advocate for change and new-ness. If he wasn't, he wouldn't have sent Christ. Lets celebrate that facet of our God and dwell in it.

Relative Sin

As I'm getting to know Jesus more, I'm trying this thing out where I question all of my motives and thoughts about who He is and make sure they're not being born of tradition or common thought, but of my own biblical and Spirit-led search and revelation. It's a good thing because it opens up doors to very beautiful parts of God, but it's also scary because it's shaking up the things I think I know about God and introducing things that can be somewhat uncomfortable and hard to swallow. I'm discovering that God is nothing like we think he is. But that is another topic for a different day. What I really want to talk about now is sin, and how it relates to what I just mentioned. And how steering away from tradition is bringing up the term "relativism" in my pursuit of Christ. I understand that most Christians see relativism as very dangerous and misaligned with the character of God because it suggests vague guidelines vs. foundational truth.But I also understand that God relates to individuals in very different ways. And if sin is something that separates us from God, isn't it possible for some of that sin to be relative? Because different people relate to God in different ways. Example: I have issues with food and if I allow myself to binge on sweets, it dulls my senses, it's escapism, it's an unhealthy way to deal with deeper crap going on: it separates me from God. But for someone else, binging wouldn't necessarily separate them from God, it would just make them feel sick. So binging is sinful for me. But for someone else, it's just a lighthearted unhealthy choice. I get that there are obvious sins that separate everyone from God, no matter how the individual relates to him. But I know there are others that are different.

Thoughts?

The reason I posted this in the first place is because I'm noticing that it's getting harder and harder for me to define what sin is in my life. I'm also noticing that the topic of sin is becoming less and less discussed because it ignites a sense of legalism and no Christian hipster wants to be seen as a Bible thumper, so I'm seeing a degeneration of morale among Christians my age. Because we serve a "forgiving" God. We  misinterpret his forgiveness and use it as a loophole for sin. This is nothing new, Paul talked about it in Romans 5&6. But "love" and "forgiveness" are not excuses to compromise truth or morals. So, to tie this in, what are those truths and morals, and can they be relative? and, to relate to degenerating morale, just how angry does God get when we know what we're doing is wrong, yet we keep on doing it to convey a liberal Christianity? And how much room does he give us before he holds us responsible and begins punishing us for that behavior, calling it repetitive and conscious sin?

Tradition

What would you live for if all notions caused by tradition weren't present?

Would you devote your life to your work, in order to make your money, in order to pay bills and function in a society?

Would you believe that God manifested himself, but also his Son, in human form on earth to die for everyone living in it, and everyone who would live, acting as a bridge from us to God? And now we can have a relationship with him through acts of faith? (or any other ancient religious system you adhere to)

Would you eat 3 meals a day?

Would you want to get married?

Would you want to have children?

Are there things you're devoting your life to simply because it's what "we do" or it's what "we've always heard"? Do your intuitions and experiences lead you to live somewhere beyond what might be traditionally expected of you (or what you might expect of yourself)?
What if we all lived that way? Imagine what could be found...
It would take a shload of guts.

Mobilizing the US Naysh and my own heart

          Im writing this on a German keyboard, so there will be no apostrophes and i might accidentally switch my zs and ys because theyre switched places on this keyboard. it belongs to my friend Hanna, 1 of 4 people on this mobile trip in Puyallup, Washington. (Naysh stands for Nation, p.s.)

          Ive been wanting to update this blog ever since my last post, but ever since then i have had a terrible time compartmentalizing my thoughts into something readable. i hope that means God is producing something in me that will overflow into some form of definite action with a clear purpose and goal.

          That action will contain the following--

• loving the Lord God with my soul, heart and mind
• responsibility for what my own life will/can look like
• giving my abundance to those who are without

          This mobile trip Im on is solidifying the work and revelation God is doing in me, as well as a book Im reading by Richard Stearns that is de-glossing the glamour that can sometimes come with a life of serving the poor (how sad that we have turned it into that, but there is no doubt that "do gooding" has a saint-like halo around it). In other words, reality is kicking in. Lately Ive been praying for nothing more than constant realization of reality and the brief duration of this life and how I can make it worthwhile. 

          Jumbled thoughts. But that has been my mind for the past month!

Responsibility (in regards to living a full life)

Responsibility is one of those things that looks great from far away, but when it comes to actually living it out, you never want to do it and its just not that fun.

The specific type I'm talking about right now is responsibility of your life. I'm not sure exactly when I learned the lesson that "life is what you make it", but ever since I learned it, I am no longer able to ask myself why certain things in my life aren't happening or coming to pass. I'm no longer able to ask myself, because I already know why before the question has the time to reach my lips. It's because I'm not making it happen. It's pretty irritating. Every time I wake up with another day full of nothing, and get ready to sit down with a cup of coffee and whine to my journal about how boring my life is, Responsibility pops out from behind the couch and says, "Get off your ass!" Gone are the days of prolonged angst and shaking my fist at the world saying, "Why must I constantly feel unfulfilled and stunted in this place, why can't I go and pursue what I want to pursue?!" Responsibility's reflection shows up in my mug of coffee and says, "It's at your fingertips."
She shows up in my phonebook as I scroll pass the number of that friend I still haven't called to hang out like I said I would.
She shows up in my coworker complaining about her animosity towards her husband, as I catch myself not listening with my whole heart.
She shows up when I exchange money with that guy at the coffee place, leaving once again without introducing myself.
In the hands of my grandfather clock, as another day draws to a close.
Responsibility looms. in a good way.

No one keeps you from anything but you.

There's probably an exception to that rule, but it is very rare. I'm talking natural disaster or death or something extreme. 99.9% of excuses can be overcome and there is no excuse for them.

So, for all of you who want a step-by-step program on how to suck out all the marrow of life, no matter where you are or what you are pursuing--

1. Use all of your resources
2. Get creative
3. Overcome fear/emotion/laziness
4. You're going to die someday, perhaps soon, so make this season in your life one that won't be another season of you waiting for stuff to fall in your lap.

I know I've talked about this before. But why is half the world completely dissatisfied? One big reason is that we're not manning up.