There is an obliviousness to the Heart of this place. Everyone seems to be convinced that they are going somewhere; some sweet place promised to them by a forgotten hope salesman left down the road of broken dreams, disappointments, and failed relationships. Each new advertisement, cigarette, and girlfriend brings something yet explored; awakens the very desire they so desperately tried to kill the last time their hopes rose, only to fail them. Signs on church buildings prohibit the entry of the scandalously dressed, never letting us escape the reminder that Jesus Christ is only for the “righteous enough,” only for the pious, only for those wealthy enough to afford clothes. He is NOT for the promiscuous, the broken, the whores, the abused, the hurting, the alcoholics, the womanizers, and those caught in the asphyxiating grips of their sin. Here, we must be well dressed to pay homage to the temples men have built. It was Voltaire who once said, “God made man in His own image, and now man returns the favor.” Hope here is a flicker, but it is a flicker not easily blown out.
Jesus’ words are wooing as He beckons these people to bring their weary souls to find rest in Him alone. That way is hard: it is hard to love a God your culture sees as out-dated, obsolete, and as boring as the stained glass depictions of bearded men on crosses portrayed on the sinless folks’ buildings. It is hard to leave sex, marijuana, the pursuit of money, and alcohol when they have been kind enough to provide you with a name, a purpose, and to take up your thoughts and your time. Jesus never said that the Easy Way was not beautiful, enticing, and full of the people that you want to be just like. He never said that the hard way was glamorous, either, but it is GLORIOUS.
When Jesus came, to where was it? May we be reminded of these words, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” As Christ, pure goodness and beauty, superimposed Himself with the broken and the ugly, so these two Ways, while spiritually set apart by an ocean of Grace and waves of Holiness; torrents of pain and rainbows of promised joy, are physically intertwined like two lovers sharing their first embrace. As the multitude of Poles head to an eternity of sorrow and “what-if’s,” may the Redeemed forsake all of life’s trifles and fight to tear down the walls of Jericho in the hearts of the lost; the Babel’s of confusion in the minds of the hurting. May we come out of our church buildings and our “Kingdom-of-one’s” to look the countless “I-never-knew-you’s” in the face and tell them of a Treasure buried in a field that is worth selling everything we have to possess. May we lose our lives that they may live. May we be captivated by the seductive words of a Savior: “Follow me.” Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints. May we be precious!
"And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. Even on the male and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit. And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.” EVERYONE.
by Daren Fomin
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