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.
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3 comments:
Wow this is great. It is exactly the revelation that I have been getting as of late, but have failed to find the words to write it. You should check out Ezekiel 3:4-9....it was prophesied over me before I came to Haiti and man is it truth here. I even had the flint anointing prayed over me, and right now I pray that it is passed on to you. I pray that God shows you how to carry this message to the nations! God do what you will, and use us to carry your love, your light, and your truth to the nations. I want to show them that truth is a person, as well as love, and his name is Jesus Christ! Amen!
wow I love you.
can we be best friends?
I totally agree about the offensive/offended thing.
Christ was kind of offensive in his day (and to most western societies today, he still is.)
Sometimes I find myself being offended at the situations he has handed me, but then I realize he must trust me a lot to consider me for this position.
WHEN WILL YOU WRITE ANOTHER POST?
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