Let your Kingdom come
It's a good thing we aren't living in the old covenant days but just think for a moment - what if our church leaders suddenly decided to behave like the prophets of old?
What if they shook their hands and lashed out at each and every member of the congregation and screamed at them to repent? And like Jeremiah or Amos, what if they railed against the 'churchianity' of today with the same breathless passion that these prophets railed against the rulers and people of Judah?
There are a few who are doing so but not many. Or even if there are many, we aren't hearing them loud enough or clearly enough. Some voices need to be heard, and the prophetic voice is certainly one that cannot and should not be silenced.
The church is at a peculiar state at the moment. The US Supreme Court's decision to legalize same sex marriage has woken up everyone and each church leader seems to be competing with the other in getting the message across that something is wrong with society and something must be done. It's as if this single point has jolted everyone to action and made them seize upon it as a whip to shape society to their likeness.
I've been reading and I've been hearing, and somehow I find something quite distasteful about all the words that seem to be flung this way and that. It's a little like ordering a cup of tea and then discovering that instead of sugar someone has added salt instead.
Now what is really making me annoyed is this - why is everyone screaming so loudly that this decision spells the end of the world, the dawn of the anti-Christ and the start of large scale persecution of christians?
And to that, I have only thing to say to all these 'leaders' - where were you all these years??!!
The slide towards a godless society where godly values aren't cherished is not a new phenomenon. It has been going on for the past fifty to seventy years or maybe more. It's not today that society suddenly discovered that biblical forms of sexual morality need to be discarded. And no, this new ruling by the US Supreme Court is not going to unleash persecution of Christians on a global scale... hello, wake up... persecution has been going on for a long, long time and it's not a future event.
The Kingdom of God has always been at odds with the kingdoms of this world, and the conflict will not ebb simply through any form of favorable legislation. Believers will always be targeted for their faith and attacked for what they believe.
And just because it's not happening in your fancy neighborhood doesn't mean that it isn't taking place.
However, what really bothers me most is this 'single-point' fixation amongst Christians as far as sexual morality is concerned. It's as if homosexuality is the only great evil that exists and everything else just pales in comparison. Why isn't anyone getting agitated over lustful imagery in media? Why isn't anyone unduly upset over adultery and infidelity and all that goes with it? Why isn't anyone frothing over issues like sex outside marriage? Why isn't anyone making any noise about the ready acceptability of sensuality in churches? Why isn't anyone getting mad over Hollywood determining how we must behave sexually with people we love?
And while we are at it, let me add... why isn't anyone angry about socio-economic inequality that exists in society? Why doesn't poverty or child hunger agitate anyone? Why are we nonchalant about exploitation of the vulnerable? How come we don't see institutionalization of corruption and the ready acceptability of amoral behavior in business as a spiritual crisis? Why don't we bother considering pollution and environmental challenges as an insult to God who created the universe? Why are so many of us not willing to think of climate change as a sin issue since human behavior is directly responsible for it? Why are some of us so quick to absolve big industries of their role in pollution? Why aren't we sad at the ecological damage with the poaching and killing of exotic animals and rendering them extinct?
And I haven't even started about how the entire issue of pro-life has been reduced into an anti-abortion message and nothing else. Somehow we don't find many Christians or at least many of the stridently vocal pro-lifers talking about improving the quality of life for babies that are born and adults. Instead, we find some to be supportive of war as a reasonable policy and the use of guns as effective self defense solution. I can never get my head around that people who champion life can be so supportive of agents of death. And then, why don't we see pro-lifers support universal healthcare since it'd promote the concept of wellness and healthy living, and one that goes hand in hand with what Jesus did when he was here on earth, namely, he went about healing the sick.
I could go on and on but what I am trying to say is that we need to be consistent with our message and we cannot be lopsided with our opinion or even selective about our outrage. Sin as it exists in the world is multidimensional and multilayered and we cannot cherrypick what we like to rant about and then ignore the other points. We must be one with our message or risk being laughed at for not being consistent.
The world is watching how we talk, what we say and what we do. And the world is particularly aware when our message lacks coherence and pounces at us when they see these missteps. Why isn't the world taking the christian position on homosexuality very seriously? Well, maybe because most churches looked the other way when marriages began to crumble and strong and attractive biblical alternatives weren't presented more persuasively. And why isn't abortion not taken as seriously the way most Christians do? Maybe because we failed to convince the world that it was dignity of life that we were supporting and not some sort of a misogynistic attempt to deny women the right of choice.
We cannot expect the world to change their minds about us. In fact, we must expect the world to continue misunderstanding and misrepresenting us. Our choice is simple. We must continue to deny ourselves, carry the cross and seek his kingdom above all else. And when we do, let's remember to soak ourselves in the Word of God and not just sprinkle ourselves with a verse of two. We must drench ourselves in the fullness of the Word because only then we can play a prophetic role in the world we live in.
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