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I want to draw our attention to another false impression of the world that may need to be pruned.
I wonder if the Vine-grower might want to prune our version of sanity?
Allow me to explain.
If you read through the Gospels and focus on the teachings about the Kingdom of God, you can’t help but notice that it is entirely counter-intuitive:
In the Kingdom of God, the first will be last and the last will be first. … Wait, what?!
In order to receive the Kingdom of God, you must receive it as a little child … Wait, not a mature adult?
The Kingdom of God is not something “out there”; rather, it is “within you.” … Really?!
In order for Jesus to teach about the Kingdom of God, he had to use enigmatic parables that turn reason inside out and upside down.
Apparently, in order to embrace the Kingdom of God, we will have to become fools—fools for Christ (1 Cor. 4:10).
Few people capture this better than Frederick Buechner:
If the world is sane, then Jesus is mad as a hatter and the Last Supper is the Mad Tea Party. The world says, Mind your own business, and Jesus says, There is no such thing as your own business. The world says, Follow the wisest course and be a success, and Jesus says, Follow me and be crucified. The world says, Drive carefully—the life you save may be your own, and Jesus says, Whoever would save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. The world says, Get and Jesus says, Give. In terms of the world’s sanity, Jesus is crazy as a coot, and anybody who thinks he can follow him without being a little crazy too is laboring less under a cross than under a delusion.
So yes, joining with Buechner, I wonder …
… I wonder if God might want to prune some of our sanity?
TODAY’s PRAYER: Lord God, as I go through my day today, teach me more about what it means to be a fool for Christ. Show me where my assumptions reflect the exact opposite of your own. Prune those places where I follow the sanity of the world instead of the amazing beauty of your Reign.
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