We will not disregard nor
cause discredit to the mission of Jesus. We will bear witness to what he has
shown us, to who he is and to what he has done. We will share the word about
our King with anyone, anywhere, as he wants us to. We will allow his Holy
Spirit to make our hearts pound when he wants our attention. We will serve and
praise our King with whom we humbly walk.
And as a result of that walk
we will proclaim the goodness of our coming of our King. Not like a car with a broken muffler disturbing
people every time it starts up. Not like a car with an engine depleted of its
oil ticking-ticking-ticking off people as we drive by. We will instead proclaim
his kingdom through quiet action, through fuel-injected theology, through all-weather
love, through revved-up compassion, through wind-tested teaching and through all-terrain
capability. We will let the King impress upon us and we will in turn impress
the King upon others– from our internal frames to our external accessories— We
will share him when we are sitting idle and when we are traveling along the
road, when we stop at night and when we start up again in the morning. We will
have our King on our hands and in our minds wherever we. We will think about why
we do– what we do– how we do– when we do– so that we can be sure we that we
are reflecting what is Good. We will serve and praise our King with whom
we humbly walk.
You know, our King is not a
bad King– At all. He did not come to condemn the world, but to save the world.
That is the Gospel: The Good News! Our King entered this world out of love for
everyone. How can we keep that message to ourselves– It would not be good to
keep it alone. Our King has a mission to seek and to save the lost. Jesus
Christ, the Prince of Peace, the Everlasting God, came to dwell, to tent, among
us. He spoke to the least of us and gave us worth. He mingled with the worst of
us and gave us purity. He whispered to the most awkward of us and gave us a
beautiful new song. He humbled the grandest of us and gave us a radical purpose.
Jesus reorients our souls. I knew one teenager whose life was changed by this
Good Shepherd King and he said, “He flipped me back on my feet.”
— Part 6 tomorrow —