Through The Fog

I'm reading the most interesting book The Jesus I Never Knew by Philip Yancey.

Wow!

While I'm a voracious reader, I'm not one to read a bunch of books about "religion". It's just not my thing. In fact, the way "religious" books are written usually put me off. I start feeling like:
a) It's endless blathering about God instead of from God.
or
b) I'm subtly being put down because I don't subscribe to everything in that particular bit of doctrine.

However, something Yancey wrote caught my attention.

"I read scores of accounts of the etymology of Jesus' name, discussions of what languages he spoke, debates about how long he lived at Nazareth or Capernaum or Bethlehem. Any true-to-life image receded into a fuzzy, indistinct blur. I had a hunch that Jesus himself would be appalled by many of the many portrayals I was reading.

"At the same time, with great consistency I found that whenever I returned to the Gospels themselves, the fog began to lift."

Hmmmm, so I'm not the only one who starts feeling like the Word is being obscured by man?

I'm still working my way through this book, but another bit caught my attention this morning and I started thinking about some things that Yancey wrote about the life of Jesus.

First, Jesus didn't seek out the big men of the day. He didn't hang out with the rich, the rabbis, the politicians, the people with power. No, no, Jesus hung out with the little people, teaching them, encouraging them, giving that glimpse of Heaven and the Father that we long for.

Jesus' friends and followers were people with problems, self doubt, poverty, health, all the issues that bedevil us today, Christian and non-Christian alike.

Again, I'll quote from Yancey:

"Perhaps prostitutes, tax collectors, and other known sinners responded to Jesus so readily because at some level they knew they were wrong and to them God's forgiveness looked very appealing. As C. S. Lewis has said, "Prostitutes are in no danger of finding their present life so satisfactory that they cannot turn to God: the proud, the avaricious, the self-righteous, are in that danger.'"

Interesting. Those of us who are Blessed with more, face the danger of relying upon ourselves, not upon God?

Yes, I believe that is true.

We risk unbelief by being so secure in our prosperous little lives. And yes, despite the gloom and doom of the media, we who live in the United States are prosperous. The poorest among us have more than the "middle class" of other nations, other parts of the world.

In any case, with unbelief comes doubt, a lack of Faith.

How often are we getting our tightie-whities in a bunch over someone else's sin, and ignoring our own greater sins with our own legalisms and self-righteousness?

Let me ask you:
Would the sinners that Jesus hung out with be welcomed in your home, in your church?
Would you sit next to the man who's wearing a workman's clothing without even thinking about it?
Would you be willing to comfort and counsel the prostitute, the drug addict, the mentally ill?
And, here's the thing, would your church??

You know that each of us are representatives first of Jesus, second of our respective churches.

If your church is not encouraging you in being Christlike, in reaching out to your brothers and sisters in need, Saved or unsaved, then maybe you need to take it all back to the Word and see what Jesus Himself said and did during his short time as a man on this earth.

I too fail the test.

I too fall short of the task.

I too fall short of the standard Jesus set for us.

And God sets me back on the right Path. Jesus lights my way with the Sword of Truth. I fight against principalities, not just on the earth, but inside myself as well.

For there are many battles.

The battle within,
the battle without,
the battle in the Heavenlies.

There is no choice but to win. To fight, to fall, to rise up and battle again, and again, and again.

To fight our way through the fog again and again, each time receiving only a glimpse, at best, of the Kingdom of God lying before us.

But the Word prepares us, cuts through that fog, puts us on the right Path that will lead us to the final Glory in all things.

Despite our failings, despite our sins, despite all that we do to misunderstand, misrepresent, misuse the Word, the Word ALWAYS shows us the right way to go.

Through the fog I seek Jesus, like a blind woman, feeling my way along the long and rocky Path in the wilderness.

The fog burns away in the Light of the Son...