What Do You Stand For?

Good afternoon friends. There only about 27 of you who read my posts, so I think I have the right to call you friends. I am anything BUT an internet viral sensation. This one is for believers, so for the two atheists that read on occasion, you get the day off. When I spoke to you last in this arena I urged you all to represent Jesus well. I also asked you to stay away from drugs, but I was mostly being playful. I don't think my blogs are very popular within the addict community, even though I desperately wish I could be helpful to them.

Today I'm asking us to try and step back from ourselves and ask the question, "What do I stand for?"

Now, hopefully your instinctive answer is something like, "I stand for Jesus." or, "I stand for the Gospel." - or the Kingdom or something like that. Yet, indulge me for a moment. What is it that your life is really communicating? Do you know? Would it help to ask the people around you?

I have often heard the quote, "People are like tea bags. You don't know what's in them until you dip them in hot water." I have also heard it modified to read, "Christians are a lot like tea bags. You don't really know what's in them until you dip them in hot water." These are interesting times we live in, and in a very metaphorical way it's as if we have all been dipped in the cauldron. It has been equally interesting to see what has been coming out of us as a Christian community.

It really appears like we have an innate tendency to get wrapped up in the goings on of this world along with everyone else. I hope the tone of this doesn't sound harsh. It kind of caught us by surprise. (And if the whole believing church reads this blog post, I'm sure it will soon be rectified. :-).). I'm convinced that it is easy to lose track of who we are, why we're here and what we're here to accomplish.

In his second letter to Timothy, Paul tells him, "Soldiers don't get tied up in the affairs of civilian life, for then they cannot please the officer who enlisted them." 2Timothy 2:4.

I think we have long had a sense that we're not supposed to 'live the civilian life' in the sense that we aren't supposed to spend our life running after beer and women. Or if you're a lady...wine and men. Okay. Maybe not the men. Just wine? And something about a Christian driving a Lamborghini just feels irksome. Chasing wealth and privilege just seems unfitting for us. Even the world mocks us when they see it. Still, there are 'affairs' we entangle ourselves in that have little to do with being a good soldier of Christ.

We serve another kingdom. People in this world are dying, every day, and many are headed to a Christl-ess eternity. We're convinced that's bad, so we're here primarily to be what scripture calls elsewhere - ambassadors for Christ, or ministers of reconciliation. We are supposed to be here to do our best to see that the people in our lives come to be made right with The Father through Jesus.

Is that what you're actually doing with the life you've been given? More and more, we seem to be getting entangled in expressing how we think the government should handle the pandemic. Some of us think we should all stay home and expect the government and farmers to feed us for free until the virus magically dies off. Others think that we should just go about our business, let the old people die off and let the strong survive. There is a place and time to express our opinion on occasion, but it seems as if the issues of the world have actually become our cause and we're actively campaigning for our particular flavour.

If we represent Christ, at least part of the way we conduct ourselves is meant to be 'winsome'. Our message is to proclaim Christ, and Him crucified; NOT our particular brand of theology, resistance to gun control, vaccinations or the lockdown. I wish I knew what Jesus would say in all of this. He was often approached with the issues of His time, be it Israeli liberty, Roman taxation or divorce. All I know is this - His responses never seemed to sound like the rest of ours.

So what do you stand for? Ask the question. Get an answer. Stand for Jesus.