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August 08, 2008
Faith : Demonstrating the Love of God
Once again, my working definition of the mission of the church is
“To enable everyone to make an informed decision as to whether they want to be a part of The Kingdom of God, or The Kingdom of the World”
So just how do we as Christians inform people so they can make a decision? Simply telling them is insufficient, since the nature of the Kingdom of God is so different from the Kingdom of the World that they may not be able to picture it. No, the only way we can truly enable anyone to make an informed decision is to demonstrate the Kingdom of God to them.
I believe there are two aspects of this – demonstrating how God's Love is the foundational principle of His Kingdom and demonstrating the reality and involvement of God by providing means by which His power is evident. Essentially we need to enable people to see that God loves them and is willing to act on their behalf. Simply believing that God loves them, but that He is some distant entity that has no involvement in this world leaves them alone, struggling to do the best they can without help. Likewise believing that God is involved in this world but does not love them leaves them with just one more struggle to add to all of the burdens that The Kingdom of The World places on them. Neither partial picture is complete or compelling as a reason to join God's Kingdom.
So first, in order to demonstrate the Kingdom of God, we must demonstrate God’s love. God’s kingdom is built on the principle of everyone looking out for everyone else (not just “me and mine”), manifesting God’s love through how we care for each other. For people to understand this we must live it out in our lives – showing love and compassion for everyone. This isn’t a matter of something we go and do; but rather how we must live our lives as we serve as God’s ambassadors in this world.
This past week I read “Conspiracy of Kindness” by Sjogren, which is essentially a presentation of this idea as a church program. I have no problems with the theory Sjogren presents; but I am concerned that people reading his books (or participating in the ministries that they inspire) will have a tendency to turn this into is yet another church activity – go to church Sunday morning, hand out coffee Monday evening, mow lawns for strangers next Saturday. He makes it sound like something you can do one Saturday a month and be done with it, while I view this as something that should color every encounter we have in our lives. I'm sure Sjogren agrees, but I fear that this may not be the effect of his teaching.
I think it is the responsibility of every Christian to be out in the world interacting with people, some of whom will be in need, and showing God’s love to them. My challenge in this is getting out and interacting with people. I have become quite a hermit in my late-middle age, and beyond work and church, and really don’t interact with people much. I think part of what God is working in me is to start doing things where I meet more people, because the more people I interact with the more opportunities I will have to show God’s love. I don’t need to travel to a foreign country or have a plan that on the every other Saturday I go look for people in need; but I think I am being called to get out there and get involved in activities where I meet more people. My wife, Anne, is a knitter and interacts with a lot of people at knitting meetings, stores, and the like. I need thinks like that in my life.
Posted by Steven at August 8, 2008 05:00 AM
