Admire instead of follow...

Jesus weeping
Originally uploaded by ericblauer.

We are homeless.
-Apostle Paul (1 Corinthians 4:11)

To want to admire, instead of follow Christ, is not an invention of bad people; no it is more an invention of those who spinelessly want to keep themselves detached at a safe distance from Jesus.
-Soren Kierkegaard

Growing a spine. That's what I feel deep in my soul, the desire to embody practically the gospel as lived out by Jesus. The life of Jesus is starting to put it's holy hands around the neck of pursuits that I previously thought were legitimate but now I see were causing a petrification in my heart.

I am being confronted by the way of Christ and as always, this blog merely becomes the anvil where I slam out the thoughts and struggles of the internal hammer of God. Sparks are flying and the anvil is hot right now, that means this is a perfect time to reform the blade of my life. Strike now...has been the motto for this season and the reverberation of the blows is being felt in many different areas of my life.

It is challenging and liberating all at the same time. But these are not new thoughts, they are simply movements back to the core of my soul again. A reunion of sorts with the pulse of my call. It is the same call that has taken me on many trips into the seedy life of Amsterdam and compelled me to serve in the jails and take the broken into my home on countless occasions. But now there is freedom to fully explore and engage this heartbeat. I am free to follow and I hear the call.

I don't want to simply clean up the mess caused by clogged toilets in our society, I want to be involved in going to the source and helping remove the clogs themselves.

To much of ministry is mopping up the mess but not addressing the real root of the problem. To do this means to strip away the mirages that often hide the truth and face the issues face to face. To truly touch the lepers so that they may be healed is completely different than praying for them from my warm and clean study.

It was the way of Christ and I think He weeps at how far His people often live from that pattern. What does it truly mean to be "LIKE" Christ?

The simplicity of it is also the cross of it:
"Anyone who has two shirts should share with the one who has none." (Lk 3:11).

There is the way, the truth and the life that is Christ and I want to follow it as a community of believers. I don't want to simply teach people what to believe as a Christian; but how to live as a Christian too.