From
Romans 12:1-5
H,
I have
to admit that you are right. This is no place for superstars and charlatans. A life
in God is often, from this view of eternity, a soap opera with a cast of villains
being made, slowly and sometimes painfully, into super heroes. It is all these
stories we instinctively know to be true. All our aspirations to be good and
great and known and make something of ourselves and advance and leave a mark
and be in joy and love and truth, all of our very best aspirations and the creepy
shadows they produce subsumed into this weight of glory.
It is
does have an important caveat. It is a bit like that political rumour we heard
when Obasanjo was about to be president. As usual with our political system,
the rumour goes, the presidential aspirant had to make deals with different ‘regions’
of the country to protect those so-called varied interests. So, he made the
same deal with all of them. If all are in then no one is out.
We are
promised this great life and it is advertised in all these high places and on
very nice billboards notably by that pastor in Abuja who operates on a
different level of grace than others (it would be interesting if we were
pastors in some grand church. The scandals alone would be fodder for the sun
and affiliates. We would have no robust reply either). Yet, like a once wise rumored president, God
offers the same deal to everyone. All are called to be great and good and loved
and leave a mark and all that. It is not our sense of these things but the
truth of what these words really mean. Greatness in God resounds in all
eternity. It is not about being prominent but about being of value or, rather,
recognising your value and living within the grace-space it provides. We all
have our parts and paths but they all lead to one whole and one destination.
This
is not an action film. It is very real. This is not food for the common ego. It
is the foundation for the uncommon life. We are all together in this. We are
joined as one to one head in Christ. There are no lone rangers. It is an
advancing army of the light. No man is an island but no Christian is a Christian
outside the body. There are no private rooms in the great hospital of God. We need
each other. We must come together. The greatness is as one or it is just like
any other flaming comet of heroism on earth: gone too soon. We need each other.
If all are in, as love demands, then no one is out.
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