~ God's Kingdom in our hands

Something I read recently spoke to my Christ heart as a mission motivator and the evangelical who hides deep within my introvert personality, it goes like this.

 “Who you are speaks so loudly I can’t hear what you’re saying.”  Ralph Waldo Emerson

You see I am convinced that the biggest impediment that the Kingdom of God faces in taking over the world is us. You and I as His imperfect vessels, I make that claim because of the baggage each of us comes with. Not withstanding our personality foibles, we are all the product of the culture that we have been called to be counter to: it is just too easy for us to allow our old nature to resist our new nurture.

People see us, not as we would like them to but, as we are. If we are short tempered or away with the fairies they see this. generally these and a multitude of things that make us unique are generally value free, we as people can take or leave.

Where the problem with “”hanging out warts n all” is that we each have a personal facade. I am not just referring to our spiritual witness here; a person in a white collar job has a dress code to live up to professionally that is entirely inappropriate to a labourer on a building site.

It does matter, most, when we identify with a counter revolutionary such as Christ, and He bids us to rise to a higher level.

Even then the problem exists most significant in the perceptions of our audience, to put it in a theatrical term, our act will be judged more harshly because “I thought Christians didn’t do that sort of thing.”

There is a certain irony in that the “worldly” call “Christians” hypocritical for being human whilst judging too quickly about the actions and responses of their near neighbour and friends. The fact is that this is to be expected. If we never failed the deceiver of mankind would be calling us Christians, perhaps “perfect  Patsies” and labelling us the greater fools for it.

The truth is that we should expect this sort of distortion. Jesus did tell His disciples, us, to “expect persecution”. He also told us to “love one another”. The rub is that in so doing we have to build relationship with friends and neighbours through the lie that we are somehow different to them, which we are because of God’s spirit living in us, but at the same time we are the same in the natural person. Persecution does exist, we all have heard of Christian Martyrdom in places where Christianity is not the majority faith however there is a more pervasive persecution, perhaps two, Passive Acceptance like some Asian beliefs where they are quite happy to add a statue of “our god” to their gaggle, and the other more pernicious form is simple apathy.

This is the biggest challenge to the spreading of the Gospel we just do not count, for most people and for those who are perhaps closest to faith have been sold the other pup of deception that “If that’s what they are like no thanks.” We need to grow into the person who is closer to the person Jesus was. Who loved all even His enemies and yet stood up for the rights of others who were “socially disenfranchised” is the words we would use now.

I sometimes think that He might do better if the minute we believed he transferred us out and just left the historical record that we have now. I know it could be done our God is capable. He chooses to us to achieve the job. Are we up to it?