To be Emptied of Ourselves

I have a friend who lives his life with basically one thing on his mind. Because of this he is not the most favorable person to hang around. He was an outcast in the world and, now that Christ has captured him, even Christians pause as they attempt to sort him out. Why? Simply because he has remained in love with the One who has rescued him. Christians get uncomfortable with the intensity he speaks regarding the things Christ has done in him. He cannot tolerate the tendency the church has for complacency. Yet we are complacent. He is fearless simply because he has nothing to loose. If the world has rejected him he knows it has nothing to offer him anyways. If Christians cannot accept him either, it is no real loss to him since his whole life was marked by loss. But the difference is that Christ has brought real meaning and value whereas before, life was meaningless and purposeless. It is to the shame of the body of Christ when people come into her presence for the purpose of purifying her. John the Baptist was no theologian; but his message pointed to Christ the Knower of all things. Similarly, my friend George is no theologian, but the message he brings should make the church pause to consider the condition of their own faith. How can we change the world for Christ if we are not willing to get down and get dirty? Or, spoken in a different way: How can we change the world for Christ if we are not willing to throw off our complacency and truly communicate the love of Christ to a lost and dying world?

Are we too busy trying to be like the world? Are we too busy valuing the false notion that we must identify with the world in order to win the world? If we are doing this we are not separating ourselves from the world as Christ commands us. We are suppose to be peculiar people who must live like we love our Lord, as my friend George does. We are strangers in a foreign land. What we have to offer is real 'food'. Not more of what is readily available. What the world desires to see is something different than what it already knows. It is seeking after real hope. We do not need to jump in the muck with them.

-Joe