Nomadic Faith

God blesses you when you are mocked and persecuted and lied about because you are a follower of Jesus.

Jesus said, “Foxes have dens to live in, and birds have nests, but I, the Son of Man, have no home of my own, not even a place to lay my head.” .. “Follow me now! Let those who are spiritually dead care for their own dead.”

You will be handed over to the courts and beaten in the synagogues. And you must stand trial before governors and kings because you are his follower.

Brother will betray brother to death, fathers will betray their own children, and children will rise against their parents and cause them to be killed. And everyone will hate you all over the world because of your allegiance to Jesus.

The student shares the teacher’s fate. The servant shares the master’s fate. And since Jesus, the master of the household, have been called the prince of demons, how much more will it happen to you, a member of the household!

If you want to be perfect, go and sell all you have and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow Jesus.  Whoever wants to be a leader must be a servant, and whoever wants to be first must become a slave.

On judgment day many will tell Jesus, ‘Lord, Lord, we prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.’  But he will reply, ‘I never knew you. Go away; the things you did were not for me.’

[His words, not mine]

Is it possible that modern Christianity has become too much about pragmatics?  That is - too much about how to live a successful life?

While biblical texts do give valuable insight into marriage, finance and sex, is it really meant to be as holistic as we’d like to think?  Perhaps we do like to think of it this way because it allows us to claim to be experts in all areas of life and the world around us from science to running a business just by studying the ‘Word’.  Perhaps in such matters we are, in reality, ignorant and dysfunctional.

Being experts means that we don’t need advisors.  We don’t need financial advice from outside ‘the church’ (warning: they may suggest that we don’t tithe our way out of debt), we don’t need doctors, councillors or psychiatrists..  We don’t appreciate ’secular’ art, music or scientific discovery.  And all the while we become more insular and disconnected from society.

Have we forgotten the simple aspects of our Faith, such as ‘trust and obey’, loving our neighbour, avoiding backbiting and gossip, and living in humility?  Shouldn’t our focus in spiritual matters be primarily on reconciliation with God and others, prayer and worship, and growing in character and understanding of God?

Not that we neglect these other areas - we just leave them up to the experts.

Some would try to deconstruct their Faith in endeavour to find the roots of their beliefs.

And before they know it, it has all gone.  All that is left is a pile of rational rubble and emotional waste.

Construct I say! Even when the need is to start anew.  Find that which is worth building upon and build, build, build.