And they
answered Him saying . . .
Imitatio Dei, or, "What would Jesus
do?" This is a question intended to remind those who would profess
Christianity as being their mainstay to always seek direction from the
illustrated life of Jesus Christ by visualizing an assumed response that He
would likely have to any given situation which may challenge the path of
obedient discipleship.
What can we learn from the life of Christ
and what He did? Do we, indeed, emulate those things which He demonstrated? Many
among us often believe we do. Then
again, perhaps it is nothing more than pride and haughty condescension that leads
us to think we do, or even could. While
seeking such aspiring guidance, what is the qualifying criterion for the answers
received and subsequent actions which follow? Do we clothe the Master from His
nakedness, or quench His parched lips with our conduct? Do we satisfy His hunger through our obedient
acts of righteousness expressed through exploits of sacrificial love and kindness? We
need to place a finger upon the collective pulse of Christianity and assess the
validity of the life we allege it contains. Is the heartbeat of the body of Christ racing
from vigorous, challenging exercise driven by the Father’s passion? Or is it indistinct from being fused and
confused with the rhythm of political, cultural, religious, personal, or a
myriad of other agendas which tend to gum up the turnpike of spiritual journeys?
I believe the Church today has lost her
identity. This did not happen on the
main stage preceded with booming announcements of imminent peril, nor did it
happen overnight. Rather, it was ushered
in by the slow moving currents of subtle deceptions and distractions
strategically placed within our numbers with the enlisted intent of diverting
our energy and attention away from what really matters. We have been hijacked and kidnapped; our
garments ripped from our apathetic body as we lie gagged and enchained before
our enemy and the world. Does that seem
harsh?
There is a cry that is being heard by
many today. It comes from the book of
Revelation and delivers the following message:
“After these things I saw another angel
coming down from Heaven, having great authority and the earth was illuminated
with his glory. And he cried mightily
with a loud voice, saying ‘Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and has
become a habitation of demons, a prison for every foul spirit and a cage for
every unclean and hated bird.’ And I
heard another voice from heaven saying, ‘come out of her, my people, lest you
share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues. For her sins have reached to heaven, and God
has remembered her iniquities’” (Rev. 18:1-2, 4-5).
Who is Babylon the Great? I don’t intend on solving the mystery of her
identification here. However, there is
one particular characteristic that convicts me to the core:
-
The world is
intoxicated by her wine and adulteries (Rev. 18:3)
We, as the people of God, have
prostituted ourselves on many things. We
have a form of Godliness but deny the power thereof. How do we do this? I believe the answers are best found by
answering another question first: “What do we spend most of our time
doing?” In all honesty I find myself
“intoxicated” by the wine, or fruit, of my labor. The materialism I find myself wrapped up in
has the intoxicating effect of a fine wine; the more I have the more I
want. Our culture breeds affluence; if
you say you are free from her clutch I would counsel you to have another
look. As far as adultery goes there are
more directions to go than I have time to write, or you to read. One area I often overlook is my insatiable
drive to seek counsel from everyone and everything before I first seek the face
of God for His. Here is a question worth
pondering: “Can I, as a Christian, birth
and develop an original thought devoid of influential input from Fox News, CNN,
Hollywood, the Republican party, Democratic party, or any other public forum or
celebrity bonehead? I have thoroughly submerged
myself in the intoxicating wines and adulteries time and time again. I have let myself be convinced and convicted
on the merits of what is right, what is wrong, what things are worthy of my
attention and what things aren’t solely based on the sway of reigning popular
thought. Some issues are valid; my
response to them, many times, are not! The issue is not about being right or
wrong; it’s about servant-hood and whether or not I choose to serve. The truth of the matter is I am restrained
from contemplating the things of God for all of the polluted jargon that has
taken residence, by my own invitation and acceptance, within the secret place
reserved for communion with God. I am
the temple of God; my mind – the holy of holies. I have draped it with rancor and furnished it
with articles used for harlotry! What
should I do about that?
Did the
“show of support” for Chick-fil-A further the Kingdom of God, or did it throw
barrels of fuel on an already burning fire of hatred and division? I am summoned by the lyrics penned by Casting
Crowns in the song entitled “Friend of Sinners”: “Open our eyes to the world at
the end of our pointing fingers . . . Nobody knows what we’re for, only what
we’re against when we judge the wounded.
What if we put down our signs, crossed over the lines and loved like
[Jesus] did?”
It’s my
opinion that activities such as this are no more than self-detonated blows
numbed by the “intoxicating wine.” Jesus
once said that the gates of Hades would not prevail against the church. I wonder if the church can defeat
Herself? I find it hard to believe that
Jesus would cast his shadow from a line of protest upon a people group
condemning them by way of passive-aggressive demonstration. I’m more akin to believe that he would dine
with them and love them, affording them the opportunity to discover the beauty
of who he is through personal, experiential and intimate exchange rather than
publicly denounce them while demanding political policy to strip them of their inalienable
rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
Since Jesus
is the foundation of our religious constitution, perhaps it would benefit us to
examine His words. “The most important
[life] command is this: ‘The Lord your God is the one and only Lord. You must love Him with all of your heart,
with all of your soul, with all of your mind and with all of your
strength. The second is equally
important – love your neighbor as yourself! (Mark 12:30-31, emphasis
mine). It seems to me that the “gospel”
according to Jesus is one which encompasses two primary components: 1. There
must be an unfettered freedom to love God completely. This is the single most important ingredient
in life’s empirical journey. If I do not
possess this one thing, nothing else matters!
2. An unfettered determination to
love others in the same way, and with the same intensity that I love
myself. This was the model that Jesus
illustrated throughout His life. He
loved others and accepted them where they
were and as they were in a
socially unselfish way without demanding reciprocity, so much so that it
infuriated the religious elite. For us
to fall short of this standard which Jesus Himself inaugurated only confirms
and reveals our own subjective, self-centered condition which is bent on
recognition and self-righteous gain within the cisterns of our own creation
which aren’t good for anything more than holding our own refuse.
True
spiritual activism can only be found within the borders of “I was hungry and
you fed Me. I was thirsty and you gave
me water. I was naked and you clothed
me.” Standing in lines in support of
one person’s statement of faith may, indeed, provide us with the feeling of
solidarity amongst ourselves. But it
will never breach the lines of separation extending any offerings of hope,
acceptance or unity to those who are in dire need of them.
Spiritual
leadership is often unrecognizable in that it often comes clothed as a pauper,
not a King; a servant rather than a master.
What would Jesus do? Perhaps the
answer will continue to evade our capture until we learn what it is to give our
lives away. Perhaps it is safeguarded
among “the least of these” (Mt. 25:40).
