a facebook status i posted last week sparked a lively conversation about religion and politics. this was followed by a number of face-to-face and virtual conversations with people around me. one of those conversations was with a friend and fellow believer at my workplace. the conversation turned to the direction our government is heading, and ultimately about our religious liberties. i was more than a little surprised when this typically strong individual came across as being pretty much terrified at the prospect of losing our current religious freedom. i must have come off as being a yellow-bellied liberal pansy, because he basically accused me of laying down in front of the enemy when i replied that i was not afraid of that. unfortunately, i found myself without proper words to express myself, and i'm almost certain i never really made sense.
i was mostly surprised by his apparent fear of the possibilities of persecution and restriction of freedom to worship as we choose, but i will also admit that i am bothered by the approach that so many fellow believers take on advancing the Kingdom, and the role we play in that. today i read on facebook a status of a "friend" who proclaimed that President Obama had canceled the national day of prayer. i did a quick search of the internet and discovered that was not entirely true. as it turns out, he will not be having a grand ceremony in honor of the event, as his predecessor did each year, but rather, he would issue a fairly standard written proclamation, and would carry on with his daily prayers in private. no canceled day of prayer, but no grand ceremony. same thing, right? i then changed my status to quote a statement by a religious/political figure who noted that the president is not our nations pastor-in-chief.
so what's my point? well, its really the same point i've been trying to make in most of my recent "public" statements- bigger is not better! regardless of what our nation was founded as, or intended to be, it is not currently a "Christian" nation. furthermore, if being a "Christian" nation involves having a majority born-again, baptized, spirit-filled government, i don't think it ever will be, nor do i think it should be! on a slightly different topic, i don't think that gigantic crusades really advance the Kingdom either. i don't think canvassing a different neighborhood every saturday to tell people they are going to hell works either. and your stupid little cartoon scare-tactic tracts in public restrooms do more harm than good. don't even get me started on the elitist premises of busing kids to your church from the surrounding 10 counties. i don't even think church services are intended primarily for outreach, but that's another blog altogether...
ok, i think i've lost some of you. here's my point, really simplified: the most effective way to advance the Kingdom of God is to live your life in such a way that you are loving the people around you, and building relationships with people that need to know Jesus. i did not say anything about forcing your faith or laws on them. i said love your neighbor. one at a time. like the Jesus fellow did.
if we each focus on small scale advancement in our own little worlds, the potential is there to see world-wide effect, but if we try to "win" the world in one fell swoop, then we're doomed for epic failure. Jesus said it best: love God, and love your neighbor.
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“The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.”
ReplyDelete“The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, till it was all leavened.”
I think you're really on to something with that "small scale advancement" approach. The Jesus fellow also said the kingdom wasn't going to advance like his contemporaries thought it should. "And they took offense at him."
(Matthew 13)