‘Jesus’ good news about the kingdom can be an effective guide for our lives only if we share his view of the world in which we live. To his eyes this is a God bathed and God permeated world. It is a world filled with a glorious reality, where every component is within the range of God’s direct knowledge and control.’
What does it mean to follow the resurrected Christ? Is it just a good idea or a fine philosophy for us to live by? Is it just a myth out of history that gives us a framework through which we can live our lives? Is it a kind of coat hanger that we can hang our ‘stuff’ on? Or is it really REAL?
I dropped in and out of church as an adult for about 15 years. It began with being greatly attracted to a gorgeous young lady, so much so that I married her and for a brief time we had a dalliance with the church from which that wedding took place. A few years on and I picked up the church relationship again with the advent of children and the need to get them ‘done’, that is baptised. On each of these occasions I walked away and yet at the same time I felt a sense of disappointment; as if there was something more to find behind the words and the ceremony.
So what changed? I guess I did. For so long I had been the resident judge, jury and executioner for church and all its failings; the non-resident expert if you like. Being in actuality quite ignorant of most of the facts, this made me eminently qualified to be an expert on the subject!
There is a lovely phrase in the story of the Prodigal son, who is enjoying the five star luxury of a farmers pig pen, when he says: ‘But when he came to himself..’ I think that is the most important moment in any person’s life; that time when we stop kidding ourselves and have a reality check. Well, over a period of months from September 1982 to February 1983 I had experienced the joys of the pig pen until I came to myself.
I came home to the father. Not as a doubting, cynical and ignorant expert; but as one who acknowledged that he was lost and needed a Saviour.
Over many months of earnest searching and of taking the enormous risk for me of opening myself to others, I found that the living Christ was not some churchy catch-word, but was true. Through giving myself to the crazy journey of a local church I began to see things – not through my eyes or the churches eyes – but to my amazement and wonder, I began to see the world through the eyes of Christ. I discovered that this was truly a God bathed and God permeated world.
Oh, there is a lot of stuff that I do not get. On Monday Ronnie and I found that one of our very dearest friends is seriously ill. All we have been able to do is pray and even as I write this paragraph word has just come though that Margaret has died this morning. I don’t understand what goes on around these things; but I do know a God of unconditional love and infinite grace and have known and experienced enough of that grace and love to hold fast to this faith.
I strive to share Jesus’ view of this God breathed and God permeated world. I share the hope that every component is within the range of God’s direct knowledge and control.
No comments:
Post a Comment