Coming Out

We have to admit that there is an immeasurable distance between all that we read in the Bible and the practice of the church and of Christians. This is why I can speak validly of perversion or subversion, for, as I shall show, practice has been the total opposite of what is required of us.
- Jacques Ellul

I have been convicted lately. I'm beginning to feel like my words are more powerful than my life; my verbiage more passionate and Christ-centered than my actions. There is, in other words, a gap between what I say, and what I do. Its not an intentional gap, but it exists none the less.

Mainly, I think I'm pretty good at living like Jesus when it comes to individual and private matters. I'm a great rule-follower (and rule-maker for that matter) and I sincerely love and adore my Savior.

The problem is that when I look at Jesus I see someone who wasn't just about an individual and private faith (the kind of faith that I possess so easily). When I read the Gospels I see not just a good, moral guide but a radical, passionate example of what true life really is. I see what faith looks like when it is applied in all of life's varying circumstances. He created a community; one filled with messy, messed-up, rejected, poor, filthy sinners! He poured out His love and mercy on the people in His midst. And while He did make time to privately, individually connect with His Father - that alone time was just a part (not the crux) of His life on earth!

Honestly, I think I do it because it is easier. Its easier to be moral than compassionate, and its easier to be a good steward than radically generous. But the more that I think about it, the more I see that the easier road is way less fulfilling than the path of Christ.

My resolution this year is to actually live the faith I possess outside of the private boundaries I had previously established. Jesus paints a picture of how hugely important it is for us to be living a real faith in the real world, with real people, who have real needs in Matthew 25. . .

"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'

"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you? "The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'

"Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.' "They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?' "He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.' "Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."
Matthew 25:34-46