Everything is messed up and everything is mixed up.
People want to know where they stand, but end up falling for the latest craze and trend that has the hype behind it. Where everything is messed up and everything is mixed up it is reassuring to come across something that won’t be susceptible to the passing fads and can be relied on through all seasons to be true.
In this scene of the mess comes a figure whose integrity, compassion and ability to express what is right and true is both compelling and off-putting. For the controversy that surrounded him, there was no question as to His character and conduct. He said something and reinforced it with action. He stood for something and didn’t look to make it more appealing to garner more popularity. He had the chance to gain power and influence but was more interested in obedience to a mission.
From His example a community formed around the good news about Him and His mission. They likewise endeavoured to reflect that same commitment to compassion and truth in righteousness and integrity.
Over time, however, the allure of power and the possibility to be a part of the decision making at the highest level affected their ability to remain true to the core of what made the key figure so important. There was the power, prestige and material prosperity and even while others suffered under their desire to retain their position in society, their witness of the key figure became seriously compromised. In essence from a figure who came to help people be delivered from the mess, the community inspired to follow Him soon became a corporate machinery just as messed up as the world around them.
It’s not as though their key leader an example had not left a pattern and a way for them to follow.
Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. (James 1:27 NIV)
The claim of the church is not that it is made up of perfect people. It does not even claim to have people who are faultless. It is, however, a community formed around faith in a man whose life was never polluted by the world. Likewise, He was clear to all those that would follow Him that expectations would not be compromised either.
You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. (Matthew 5:48)
That was not call to something unattainable. That was an instruction based on a close relationship with the Father who can make those who follow Him become as He is.
Being the beacon of change is about behaving in a manner consistent with the change proclaimed. In as much as people from day to day continue to struggle with the challenges of life, there is still something appealing about the church that is pure and true. It is that humility to continue to place their problems before the Lord to help them whilst projecting the love of God to others that helps them towards the holiness God expects in those who follow Him. That purity and ability to influence the world around them rather than being compromised and corrupted within is what will make the church stand out in the world whilst remaining unpolluted by it.
For the sake of those who need help getting out of the mess of the world, we need the church to be the pure community of grace that Jesus designed it to be.
Father forgive us for where we have fallen short of your call to purity. We turn our eyes to you to help us be pure so that the change we look for will be reflected in us. Help us, Lord.
(Photo by Philipp Berndt on Unsplash)
For His Name’s Sake
Shalom
C. L. J. Dryden
Life With CD 