Day 13 - Issue 22
Mark 7:15 NLT
'It’s not what goes into your body that defiles you; you are defiled by what comes from your heart.'
My daughter has always loved theatre. She’s creative in all things and a wonderful performer. However, once she decided she wanted to have a go at pursuing performance as her career, our parental fears began to rise. We assumed that the world she was entering was fraught with danger, and we were uncertain how strong her resolve was to resist its many temptations. Eight years on, our fears have proven unnecessary. She has made good choices, based upon her real commitment to achieve her ambitions. She might so easily have been misled, yet if she’d never tried she might only have nurtured regrets.
The Church is perhaps known for its conservatism. This has some important benefits, for it pays heed to tradition and reflects long on the reasons for significant change suggested by cultural change and theological revelation. To move slowly is not wrong; driving in fog requires caution to protect lives. Yet, driving slowly is not the same as parking up. I was schooled in a Christian mindset that appears at odds with Jesus’ teaching. It was as if I might catch sin like one catches a cold if I placed myself among germ carriers. And most of those beyond the walls of the church were largely germ carriers.
The message of the incarnation is that God assumed humanity to live among us germ carriers that the reality of God might be made known. No message travels far unless it finds its way into fresh markets. I can’t catch bad behaviour, but I may choose to behave badly. Self-evidently, if the dominant culture’s values are corrupt, then I have a greater likelihood of being corrupted. This isn’t because I am forced or destined but that I choose to give expression to the fractures that lie deep within my life.
Jesus reveals that it’s possible to live the God life in a pretty messed-up world. I can either mess it up some more by giving vent to what lies within my corrupted self, or through deepening my friendship with God, begin to live God’s life in my surroundings.
QUESTION: Do you fear the world at large, or do you see it as a place for mission?
PRAYER: Lord Jesus, help me live boldly for you so others would know of your grace.
