The Hebrews 13:11-13 reference in the previous post comes from a message that I heard this past Sunday. These few verses describe Jesus' method. Everything inside the gate was "clean" and the "unclean" were outside the gate. Where was Jesus? He was encamped outside the gate. He wasn't concerned about his reputation. He wasn't concerned with political power--he rejected that temptation from Satan. He was moved to compassion and Love when he encountered the world.
Yet, the Church proper seems to be comfortable inside the gates. Trying to direct morality and truth from within. But Truth and Grace cannot be separated. Faith and Works. The tree shall be known by its fruit. On and on goes the teaching of the Christ.
Yet so difficult to follow. Fear and pride are destructive forces.
The Good must be/should be/is common. Communal. Voluntary community. You before me. Him before us.
I suppose to explain the misdirection in my thinking of late is to admit that I believed that Truth was under attack. And well, I suppose it is and always has been... but the flaw was in believing that Truth could somehow be defeated... and perhaps it was up to me to somehow stem the tide of the advancing corruption. Wow. So much for humility in that line of thought.
"Speak not as one who has the Truth, but as one whom the Truth has." Another quote given to me by that same wise man...
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1 comment:
Good point about the fact that political power was one of the things Christ was tempted with, and he refused. The Church, it seems, is not only inside the gate, it has nearly created the gate single-handedly. Somehow,of all things to lose sight of, the Church has lost sight of the person and teachings of Christ. Under no circumstance should our command come from anywhere but Him. We have got to be Christian before we are American instead of assuming those two are synonymous.
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