A Crazy Idea
Feb 12th, 2009 by ljkim
CityFellowship was started on a couple of crazy ideas. One was: What if we took Jesus very seriously, focused on the things that Jesus is about and just forgot about the rest?
We can do that because Jesus’ teaching, unlike conventional religions, doesn’t turn people into religious fanatics. Instead it calls them to be fanatically loving toward neighbors, fanatically humble, fanatically devoted to the idea of doing good, to the thankfulness and mercy… What do you call somebody who is fanatically loving, merciful, thankful, humble, determined to make a positive difference in this world? I believe such a person would be called “great.”
G.K. Chesterton once said that the problem with Christianity is not that it’s been tried and found lacking, but that it hasn’t really been tried. So what if we tried it? Where would we even start?
The second crazy idea was that the way to greatness is not through sheer determination or vision or human genius, but through repentance. The belief that God changes us and forgives us as we confess our selfishness and pride, and rely on Him to energize our minds and hearts. All the traditional Christian songs that our starting point is the Cross. That’s a poetic way of saying that it all starts when we realize that we are sinners in need of God’s unmerited pardon and grace. From there we can learn to love God (who saves us), and other People (who are sinners in need of grace as well).
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