Sharing your life…
May 22nd, 2009 by ljkim
What if you don’t like to question assumptions? “Things are the way they are, and that’s that, there’s no point in complicating things.” These are practical people who get things done and don’t have patience for ideas that twist and confuse; they prefer to keep things simple. Philosophical types tend to be snooty toward the practical-minded, but it’s the practical minded people that make the world go round! From board rooms to battlefields to factories and family rooms, it’s the practical thinkers that help get things done. So how can people who think this way ever get a philosophically challenging, life altering Gospel?
For you philosophical types, this is where seeing your lives makes such a big difference. Jesus’ teachings are radical and wonderful and if you follow him your life will be more and more radical and wonderful too. How you approach money, how you treat people; how you decide things like where to live, what to do…
And there’s one thing in particular that anyone following Jesus (who’s really following, and not just faking it) will do better than anyone else: repent, quickly, joyfully, openly, knowing that they are “righteous” through Jesus’ work. And hopefully as a result of repentance also be able to learn and be more humble and teachable and open and friendly.
But in order for all this to happen you need to share your life with those who are around you. Share your successes (of course, everyone does this pretty well) and share your failures, the things you repent. That means you have to let people in close enough to see you as you really are on the inside…so that not only can they see your pride, but they can see you repent of your pride. Not only can they see you being superficial, they can see you repent superficiality. Not only can they see you being a snob, they can see you repent of it. Get the idea? Otherwise people will only see what they can see from a distance: that you’re like everyone else, proud, superficial, snooty; and they’ll miss what’s remarkable and new, what Jesus is leading you to be.
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hear hear!