Threat seems to be on the rise....really. Nations clash. Casualties are high. But we do this thing that keeps real terrorists and terrorism at bay. We tend to have an inbuilt security system which promises ourselves that exposure to threat is for anyone but myself.
We know, informationally, a bit about ISIS, Putin, and Iran. Our ears are filled with their intimidation and our eyes see color-coded maps on the evening news. Threat is serious. It is everywhere. And, it is increasing.
Therefore, I ask us to get serious about the possibility that we are rubbing shoulders with terrorists who may have infiltrated our country. Might they take our change at a local business, deliver our pizzas, or stand in our classrooms? What should we do with a real terrorist in our midst where we are found to have real connections--but don't realize it?
Do we have a plan?
Yes. Yes we should. Yes we do.
We are to be sowing the seed of the Kingdom of God. We are to believe that people want to know God; even our fiercest of enemies. We are not called as Christians to go through life just hoping our family doesn't run into trouble.
It's more. It's risky, It's authentic Christianity. We are to love our neighbors which would include enemies being embedded. We are not to distance ourselves from community while carrying our Bibles to church. This is a most backward picture.
Fundamentally, I get it. We don't want trouble. No one does. But, dear friend, trouble is coming to us. Like it or not, want it or not, it is not a question of whether difficulty lurks. The question is whether we will live on mission.
I ask us to pray that we could meet/know a terrorist. I encourage us that we might love them the way Jesus has taught us since our most elementary VBS songs. One of the reasons Christianity is in a funk is because it has no where to go. The reason it has no where to go is because it carriers, us, don't want to go into all the world as our Leader expressed (and we can quote his expression).
The church will be most alive when in the ditches of humanity offering assistance at the risk of losing our lives. God didn't call us to go to church. He called us to be the church. Pray that you could one day meet some of these terrorists who may be infiltrating our country. And pray that when you do you might submit to the kindness of the Spirit to the extent they will realize they may have met Jesus for the very first time.
Making a difference in the world is not restricted to a gentle and safe theory in Sunday School.
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