From
John 15:1-25
H,
It all
falls back with the thing about ‘enmity with the world’. Once we have taken up
the drinking of thirst-quenching water nothing is ever quite the same. You cannot
go back safely to drinking the other stuff. You are cured from contentment on
this earth. The deeper you go, the less milk you consume, the more other forms
of fulfillment seem less and less. You are in fulfillment, Himself. What can
mortal anything do to you? Immortality is in your heart and is infecting your
whole being, slowly.
Of course,
it is not as simple as stated. Nothing is ever as simple as before you have to
live it out. All the sermons, notes, talk, words in the universe do not compare
to living out the dreams of God. Word becomes flesh to make that point.
We will
often feel like we do not belong. It will feel like we are being left behind in
an improving world and these ideals we hold, that are much more than ideals, seem
obsolete in the ‘fast pace’ of our brand new century. We may fall into the
danger of trying to keep up. We may think we have to stay relevant and with or
ahead of the curve. We may begin to act like we have a point to prove. This is
wrong. These standards the world has set have only temporal relevance. They do
not transcend this present version of life on earth. They may not even last
pass the next great leap in thought and action. There is no such thing as a
trendy truth. We are in the thing that lasts forever. It will not change or
bend or become more ‘reasonable’ over time. This is not an experiment. This is
utter reality.
So, I
guess, my point, dear friend, is that you take the ‘slings and arrows’ as part
of discipleship. Perhaps, you will never be understood and appreciated in that
way. We are called to witness and not to impress. The world system may be evil
and opaque but the people of the earth are like us: lost souls in need of a
finding God. And, hey, even if they are the enemy, are we not told to love
those as well?