What I Think

Whenever I start a sentence, let alone a blog, with the sentence "what I think...", you're in for a ride.
I'll go ahead and tell you I'm probably wrong.
You can count on the fact I don't have all my thoughts together, or that I haven't looked at every perspective.
But I am a woman who thinks a lot.
And if I save up all my thoughts, eventually the proverbial levee will break...
That would be a mess.
Just take my word for it.

I've been reading a book.
I used to do that a lot.
When I was younger, you would have had to pay me to go outside. Most often you'd find me laying on my stomach on my bed reading a fiction novel.
These days, all I want to do is be outside.
And I rarely have time for books.
But I've been reading this one.

A few years ago a guy named Shane wrote a book called Irresistable Revolution. It was a book that changed my life when I read it, ended up being common ground between me and Caleb, and has given me food for thought ever since.

Just recently Shane wrote another book.

In lieu of the presidential election, it is called Jesus For President.

Caleb bought me the book for my birthday.

And it has been an amazing birthday present... made me think more than anything in a long time.

What I've been thinking? (There you go... get ready to disregard anything Im about to say)

I've been thinking about how, for a couple of guys who dislike the government so much, they should be thankful they have freedom of speech. They just used the government and popularity and society to promote a book... get it published and on the shelves... without getting thrown in jail or executed.

The two authors of this book talk a lot about the culture in Jesus' time. They talk about translation of words (aramaic, hebrew, greek) and what they really mean. And the phrase "this is what Jesus meant" occurs over and over again.

And so I started wondering.

If Jesus came today... would he be wearing camel skin and walking barefoot? Would he be Jewish? Would he be Jewish? Would he be crucified?

I don't think so.

I don't think that the Christian faith should be based on relativism, but I also don't think that Jesus' message of salvation had anything to do with his culture or the shoes he wore or the way he was killed. Today, he'd be the guy sitting at the corner booth at Waffle House with another friend or two, drinking black coffee.

There was nothing about Jesus, his everyday living, or his appearance that made him stand out. Just the way he loved. The way he was pure and blameless.

I think we should keep that in mind when reading the Bible.

Also keep in mind that the Bible was put together by imperfect people.

That the first church in Acts was made up of sinners.

That there are almost 30 years of Jesus' life that are pratically unaccounted for.

That the rich need Jesus just as much as the poor.

That MONEY is not the root of all evil... but the LOVE of money is.

That most of our faith, most of what is required of us, is willingness.

Not what you do. It is what you are willing to do. Stepping up to the plate with arms open wide, saying, "Whatever you say, my love."

We need to remember not to seclude ourselves.

To be in the world... surrounded by people who need grace and crave love. But not to be "of" it, in the sense that our love sets us apart.

Not the way we dress. Or where we live. But simply how we love.

Derek Webb sings about how "people love us the most for what we hate."

How can we HATE anything in the name of Jesus?

What I think is that we've gotten full of ourselves.

We've come to believe we are right and they are wrong.

How dangerous...

What I think, is that we need to remember that none of this has anything to do with us.

And that Jesus is the only way...

And he was pretty normal.

And that the evil of this world that we are fighting is not politics, presidents, money, or power.

It's a spiritual war we're fighting.

A fight for our lives and the lives of our neighbors.

...

All that to say it's a great bok. One you should read and mark up and get mad about and nod your head with and question the entire time.

Because that's what he thinks.

And this is what I think.

And the wisest thing he had to say was, "We need to learn how to disagree well".

Love. At the end of the day, just love.

Let Jesus (the carpenter, the fisherman, the one with the corny jokes and the obscure analogies, the one with the dirty feet and scraggly beard) show you the rest.