Haunted by Jesus
An interesting phrase, isn't it? A conversation with a friend this morning brought it to mind, the notion being that to be a Christian is one thing, while to follow Jesus, wholly committed to living his life, acquiring his heart, taking on his cross, feeling and delivering his compassion, even his justice--well, that's another thing altogether.
Duh.
As we used to say in Texas, let's talk turkey.
The heart of God is hard to come by amongst us humans. The heart of Christ is undoubtedly otherworldly, born elsewhere, arriving from somewhere other than the planet. Truly, its coming is an invasion, a throwing over of a whole world, a whole way of being. All that talk of death on the cross, dying to self, killing the old man, dying to the flesh, it's appropriate and accurate, and our refusal to obey such nihilistic imperatives (from the world's point of view) is more than understandable. To be a professing Christian, so that all your friends know your preferred religion, is entirely possible without all that bleeding, and in fact, that is our preferred religion: "Christianity, please...lite on the Christ part. And hold the dying."
But as atheists are haunted by the possibility of God, so we tentative Christians are haunted by the possibility of Christ. Or, by the notion of Christ in us. The secret we hold in our hearts is that we want to be transformed like Paul says in Romans 12, we want to lay hold of the Kingdom of God like the forceful people Jesus refers to, we want to be changed into that glory that Christ calls us to, that perfection that he says is like the Father. He says to love--there is nothing we want more than to do and be just that, so that those rivers of living water flow from us, compassion replicating itself day after day in the lives of all those around us.
Well...perhaps there is something we want more. To stay off the cross.
Are we talking salvation issue? Well, it depends on what you mean by salvation. To take Dallas Willard's line of thought, salvation is closer to a way of being that results in a final life and destination. Salvation means freedom from sin, freedom from the old ways of getting lost, losing the old torn coat of ambition, laughing at the dumbness of lust--i.e., having the heart and mind of Christ. Salvation means walking the planet (and later, the heavens), with the heart of God pumping in the deepest reaches of your DNA, living proof that transformation is possible, that the Word of God meant what he said.
"I am life."
...wanting that life...
8:45:20 AM
