Sunday, June 6, 2010

Romans 5:12-21; Life

The concept is repeated three times, i.e., "reign in life", "brings life for all", and "bring eternal life." Paul was convinced that following Christ meant life. He proclaims it to be the way to be accepted by God and be truly alive.

So how did we as Christians get the reputation of being dull negative rule keepers? I haven't seen research that says we are viewed by society as the people that really enjoy life. I don't read books about how we are viewed as exuberant. Where are the movies that portray followers of Christ as truly alive as opposed to negative, legalistic and hypocritical, e.g., Golden Compass and Angels & Demons for example?

I am tired of hearing churches pursue the silver bullet of evangelism. It seems that congregation after congregation is looking for the one method of how to reach the world for Jesus. In my lifetime the trends include bus ministries for kids, various revival meetings, door knocking campaigns, youth centers, bigger-flashier buildings, TV evangelism, small group ministries, etc. All of those are good things but none will be "THE" thing that reaches society.

How about this for an "outreach method" -- what if every follower of Christ really was one. What would "church" look like if every follower was so plugged in to Jesus that they were overflowing with life. No fears, no pessimism, no rule pounding just life.

So today it starts with me. Here's to life, the true sign of connection to the giver of all life. (Teilhard de Chardin - "Joy is the infallible sign of the presence of God."

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