"Drip down, O heavens, from above, And let the clouds pour down righteousness; Let the earth open up and salvation bear fruit, And righteousness spring up with it. I, the LORD, have created it." -Isaiah 45:8
"Jesus is God's revelation to us about how we human beings should live in this world." -Jonathan W. Hartgrove in his book: "To Baghdad and Beyond...How I Got Born Again in Babylon"
My reflections of late regarding war and peace...have arisen out of a general pursuit after my prayers for "God's Kingdom to come and His will to be done...on Earth as it is done in Heaven. One cannot pray that Jesus taught prayer for very long and not have it's words start to mess with your life.
The Words of Jesus...do that to me.
They jacked up my world when I was 15 and they still grab me by my throat and force me to look straight into His eyes...they unclog my stopped up ears and make me hear things God dreams about. They make me look at how I am living the life God is allowing me to live. This fact is haunting me as I near the day I stand before Him...face to face. I want Him to say...Well done...Good and faithful servant. I want to glorify Jesus and be called a "son of the Most High"...one who resembles His father.
Like Simeon and Anna of the Advent season...I am "Longing" and "Looking" for the King of the Kingdom.
But...not a Kingdom to come...that somehow has become practically irrelevant and the play toy of campy novel writers and profit making marketeers. I don't want more watering down of the sermon on the mount. Quit turning His vision for humanity into some pipe dream that exists in some celestial kingdom...somewhere, someday....I long to see the Kingdom that is upon us...within us...the Kingdom that destroys the works of the devil.
I am churning in the truth of the true Prophet who said...."The Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence and the violent take it by force." Am I "violently" apprehending the city that is coming down? Do I storm it's open gates or politely stroll in a meandering and passionless pace? Have I grown so comfortable with living "down here" that I am no longer looking up? Do I truly pray Maranatha with a commitment to living the actions of that prayer today?
I do not care for a city that doesn't have streams that flow into the waste places of Empire.
I mourn for a kingdom whose tree's leaves bring healing to the nations. It's a feeding tree...not for disembodied floaters with harps but a tree that is rooted in the new creation and gives life to the world that is starved for true bread...both in body and spirit.
Angels singing music in heaven is great and all, among the perfect, redeemed and eternal....but music on Earth...now that is desperately needed....down here in the streets of bloodshed, the towers of materialism and among the dying, perverted and unredeemed....let the Angels sing their song.
I truly believe the Advent proclamations and promises...Peace on Earth and Goodwill towards all men. I believe it, not because it sounds good and makes great Christmas cards and caroling messages; but because it answers the deepest cry of the human heart...peace with God and...with each other.
That, is something worth believing in this Christmas
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