LET IT BEGIN IN ME

When Jesus was raised from the dead the reality didn't immediately impact the disciples.  For ten of the eleven it took an appearance of Jesus on Sunday evening to shock them into a new normal of reality.  For the eleventh, Thomas, who wasn't present at the first gathering; it took another week, another appearance, and a visible manifestation of Jesus' wounds.

I've always thought that a resurrection would so shake the disciples that change would be immediate.  Not so, however.  I suppose the shock of it all could so overwhelm them that it would take time to process.  On the surface resurrection from the dead is hard to believe after all; absurd might be the best word. 

Perhaps that is why Jesus called His Church into a process of being His witnesses in the world. Perhaps we ought to be patient with people if they don't believe our witness as quickly as we might like.  To be a witness requires that we be among people, living out the ramifications of our own life-changing encounter with Jesus.  Hopefully, then, as we live with them, Jesus will shine through us and they will be drawn to Christ as the Holy Spirit works in their lives.  It may happen quickly.  It may take time.  Only God knows the ways of the human heart.

As Christians live in their world, seeking to be salt and light, the most important prayer of our hearts ought to be, "Your kingdom come; Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven" (Matt. 6:10). Our role, then, is to live like we so fully embrace the ways of God's kingdom that our influence, energized by the Holy Spirit, will intrigue people and perhaps help them come to Christ.  Regardless of what they do or not do concerning Christ Jesus, our role is to offer people love, hospitality, and forgiveness.

This is a particularly important truth these days as our world turns to violence more and more often.  How does the Church make Jesus known in this violent age?  How do we Christians engage in the discussion and live as faithful followers of the Prince of peace?   What difference does it even make for there to be Christians throughout the world?

On Thursday July 14, 2016 the attention of the world turned to Nice France, where a man purposefully drove a truck into a crowded street killing 84 people and injuring many others.  Many people, one more time, are seeking to name the event.  Was it terrorism?  Was it the act of a mad man?  Was it ideologically based?  Was it simply the act of a man with pint-up anger issues? Name it what we will, it was murder.  It was one more act of man's inhumanity to man.  One more time death won and life lost.  We'll go on, mind you.  We always do; but at what cost? 

How does the sanctity of life become a mindset in the human condition? What will it take to end the violence and usher in a true day of peace?  I don't think the leaders of the world know what to do.  They know how to give wonderful talks after horrific events but they don't seem to know how to lead the world forward into a true civilization where violence is rare or extinct. We ought not to be too hard on them, however, because violence exists in our own neighborhoods and cities and homes. 

What needs to happen so that peace can be realized throughout the world?  Where do we begin?  Is it even worth the effort to try, knowing the broken condition of the human heart?  Knowing the current disdain for Christians through North America, will our voice be welcomed?  What can we do so as to reveal to the world the life of Jesus Christ and His great love for the world? 

I am only one voice, with very little influence, so I might just be speaking to myself.  Yet, maybe the self is where the answers ultimately lie.  Maybe addressing issues like peace can't really be address at the macro level.  Maybe peace is always a micro matter.  The apostle Paul speaks to the Church when he says, "If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone" (Romans 12:18). 

Let not anger be on the part of the church.  Let not anger be on the part of followers of Jesus.  In 1927 Baylus Benjamin McKinney wrote a poem-prayer we might need to make a part of our prayer life.  He wrote,

Send a revival, O Christ, my Lord,

Let it go over the land and sea.

Send it according to Thy dear Word,

And let it begin in me.

"Let it begin in me."  Ah, there's the rub.  The work of the Holy Spirit is done in the human heart; in my heart, and yours. 

What does that "revival" look like?  It is very difficult for me to see God bursting onto the scene like He did in Acts chapter two.  At the same time who would have ever believed at the time of the early Church that one Saul of Tarsus would come to Christ?  Maybe God has one more surprise to lavish onto the world.  I don't know.  I only know that God works in the human heart and that if enough transformed human heart's merge into the marvelous wonder called "Church," praying and living out the meaning of, "Your kingdom come…Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven," the possibility of peace will work its way into the human situation. 

Maybe the peace we all seek will come one person at a time.  After all, the church is comprised of persons as persons, persons living in the spirit of these holy words,

Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.  Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped" (Phil. 2:3-4). 

Do we really want peace?  Do we really want a safe world in which to raise our children? Do we really want safe neighborhoods?  Do we really want wars to cease? 

Maybe Mr. McKinney is on to something.

Send a revival, O Christ, my Lord,

Let it go over the land and sea.

Send it according to Thy dear Word,

And let it begin in me.

Let it begin in me.  Isn't that a part of what Jesus meant when He said, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me" (Matt. 16:24)?