Recently I was thinking about the fences in our lives. What I mean when I say that is I wonder how much time and energy we spend dealing with the fences we have erected because we want to control what comes in and what goes out of our life. It seems to me that Jesus spent much of this time tearing down fences and we Christ-followers think that is cool all the while we are busy erecting our own fences. So let me ask us all a few questions.
Are we as loving as we think we are? It's easy to love people in our church, our family, and circle of friends. What about everyone else? How about the careless checkout person who overcharged you or that counter clerk who really does not care to serve you? What about the person who cut you off in traffic? What about that neighbor who manages to irritate you every time you speak? What about every person who is not like you? What about that dirty street person sitting on the corner?
Are we bigoted? Jesus spent his time with all types of people. Some of the folks he interacted with the most were despised by his race and religion. We say we are not bigoted, but is that true? Who are your friends? Who do you hang with? Are you the same socioeconomic class? Are you the same race? Do you have the same belief system and better yet, does their theology exactly match yours? Do they look just like you?
Are we anemic Christ-followers? So all of us followers profess to have given our lives over to Christ. Who knows? Have we compartmentalized our faith to fit a small part of our life? Are we real followers for a few hours on Sunday and maybe...maybe a couple hours twice a month at a small group? Who in your social circle knows? Who in your neighborhood...your community...your work knows what you believe?
Do we believe in missions and community outreach? When missions comes up do you speak about what you are doing in giving or local service or long distance service? Or do you spend time talking about the time your fellow church goers went "down to the hood" or talk about some missionary who has a photo on the church bulletin board and they have a line item in the church giving budget. Does hearing that person speak when they visit mean you are plugged-in? Does what your church gives count for you?
Do we use our Bible like a cookbook? Do we look up bits and pieces to make our points and deal with our issues? Do we take a dash of this verse and a pinch of that chapter to make a point? I'm not talking about memorizing long passages, but I am asking if we are are trying to know the Bible as a whole. Have we invested time to understand the great rich and relevant themes running through the Bible? Do we get excited when we gain a new bit of incite that speaks directly to our soul?
So, I do not write this to beat anyone up, friends. I am calling us to work towards something better. We are spending time building fences trying to control our world...trying to control our space...trying to control what we alone want. That is not exactly what Jesus had in mind for any of his followers. He calls us to a wild and radical faith. He calls us to love fiercely and to live fearlessly. He calls us to come along with him.
Are you ready to pull that first plank off your fence? Let's go.
