You’ve heard it before; “Your faith is all pie-in-the-sky religion.”
“I want to live life. I want to live it now!”
Doesn’t that really show how much the Christian faith
Is misunderstood and misrepresented?
Yet don’t we actually behave that way, and
struggle with feeling that way ourselves?
Don’t we forget sometimes that God is here with us.
Now. In the present.
Shouldn’t that change how we live our lives?
Paul thinks so:
Companions as we are in this work with you, we beg you,
please don't squander one bit of this marvelous life God has given us.
God reminds us,
I heard your call in the nick of time;
The day you needed me, I was there to help.
Well, now is the right time to listen, the day to be helped.
Don't put it off; don't frustrate God's work by showing up late,
throwing a question mark over everything we're doing.
Our work as God's servants gets validated — or not — in the details.
People are watching us as we stay at our post, alertly, unswervingly
. . .
in hard times, tough times, bad times;
when we're beaten up, jailed, and mobbed; working hard,
working late, working without eating;
with pure heart, clear head, steady hand; in gentleness, holiness, and honest love;
when we're telling the truth, and when God's showing his power;
when we're doing our best setting things right;
when we're praised, and when we're blamed; slandered, and honored;
true to our word, though distrusted;
ignored by the world, but recognized by God;
terrifically alive, though rumored to be dead;
beaten within an inch of our lives, but refusing to die;
immersed in tears, yet always filled with deep joy;
living on handouts, yet enriching many; having nothing, having it all.
Dear, dear Corinthians,
I can't tell you how much I long for you to enter this wide-open, spacious life.
We didn't fence you in. The smallness you feel comes from within you.
Your lives aren't small, but you're living them in a small way.
I'm speaking as plainly as I can and with great affection.
Open up your lives. Live openly and expansively!
Did you catch what Paul said? I know that there’s a lot, but here
Are some things that I heard:
This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be saved in it;
let God redeem this day for us, and us for this day.
Since God is a just-in-time God, we need to be a just-in-time people,
ever alert to what God is doing in our world and seeking to join in.
Others aren’t watching the big things that we do, but the little ones;
And they’re watching our tough days, not just our victories –
by these they measure our virtues, our vices,
our values, and our character.
You can baptize us in tears, but our Joy in God is what fills us up.
God’s boundaries don’t fence us in; our lack of life imagination does.
May God help us all learn how to live life today.
Grace and peace,
Ron
2 Corinthians 6:1-13 - THE MESSAGE
