What faith might be

When Jesus Christ is Lord, I am possibility. 

When my idols and other temporary, inferior substitutes are granted lordship in my life, chaos ensues, it reigns, it flaunts its power from every corner of the psyche.  I shudder in fear of the choices I have made when I have handed over my allegiances and my love.

But when I hand Christ free reign over my heart and soul, suddenly I am freed from the shackles that bind me close to this earth, and I am free to soar on the winds of the Spirit's leading.  When I acknowledge that Christ is Lord over all of creation, suddenly there is a rush of wind and I recognize God's hand that is at work, that has always been at work, in my heart and in the hearts of those around me.  When I hand over my heart to my Lord and my Savior, I am suddenly no longer bound to worship at the false thresholds of those idols whose haunts I have too often frequented.  Suddenly I recognize the inferior quality of the food that I have been eating, and I recognize the spiritual feast to which I am called.  When Jesus Christ is Lord, I am awash in the beauty of a dance between Creator and Created, between blessed and blessing, between love and beloved.  When Jesus Christ is Lord, a voice booms over the chaos and calls order into being, and my life suddenly begins to take on meaning of a higher magnitude than I could previously imagine.

So much of life is commercialized, and I believe much of this exists to tame the passions, to dim the flame that burns within, to dampen the light of the Spirit that burns for Christ.  We buy in, accepting the leadership of so many willing leaders, and in doing so we hand over something.  We accept the view of the world that we receive, and our imaginations are somewhat shackled, preventing us from imagining what God might do, instead wondering how the past might repeat itself.

When we realize how tame we can be, and we hand the reins over to our beloved Savior, we suddenly realize that there is no ceiling, there is no depth, no limit to the love of God.  When we accept this Truth, our imaginations can run wild as we wonder what God might do next, what new wonder might be cast upon the seas of the world for us to marvel upon; how might God liberate us once more from our oceans of bad choices and false gods?  What mighty work is God preparing to unleash upon us, how might God speak in and through us, from unknown corners of the globe, calling to slumbering portions of the heart.

Rise, Christian, and follow the Spirit's call to a new way of life, one lived with passion and fire, with energy and love, where the goal is no longer to accumulate but to give, to spread, to be caught up in the dynamic and selfless love of Christ.

How might life be altered if we no longer accepted the church as a tame institution but recognized Christ's leadership of the church into every corner of life, from the boardroom to the playground to the sanctuary to the subdivision?  What if we recognized that Christ's Lordship cannot be confined to a certain hour of a certain day, but rather takes root at the Throne of God and pours forth in a torrent that cannot be contained?  How might we recognize the challenge that awaits us as one of a different magnitude, one that didn't consist of finding people for our pews, but rather one that was defined by the number of eyes that witnessed acts of love and grace, by the number of ears that heard the glorious name of Christ, by the number of hearts touched by selfless actions modeled after the imitation of Christ?  How might the world be forever changed if we recognized that Christ was already at work in the hearts and minds of those who pass by our often lifeless churches?  How might our prayers be altered if we no longer saw our responsibility as taking Christ to the world but showing up and acknowledging that Christ is already Lord of all there is?

Passion is a flame that can be dimmed by tedium, but it can also explode into every avenue of the world if we expand our hearts and minds and let the Spirit lead us to places where we would never go otherwise.  When we cower in fear, we let Satan savor his small victory in the heart--but when we fall on our knees before Christ and acknowledge him as Lord and Savior of all, Satan is the one who cowers, because he knows the full power of God can shake the foundations and shatter the idols to which we cling.  Satan knows that God tore the temple veil in two, he knows that death and sin have lost their sting, he knows that his grip upon us is a feeble and failing one, and yet he depends on our fear of a life lived with wild abundance to Christ our Lord.  We fear what this life might look like, so we shrink back, preferring the tame and the tangible to the unknown and unbounded.  The Spirit calls the soul to soar at heights unknown, and so often we choose to stay rooted in comfort to the reality we know, not recognizing that it is Christ that is true reality, Christ that is true life, true wonder, true joy and peace and grace and mercy, and that without Christ we cannot stand for a moment.  Even with Christ, perhaps we cannot stand, but only because we should instead fall prostrate before the throne of the Lamb that we might worship him forever and ever.

I know not the direction the church will take; I dare not presume that I understand where and how Christ is leading.  I only pray that I will be bold enough to follow the one who was willing to die upon the tree that we may have life.  I only pray that I will be willing to let the Spirit ignite the passion that waits within, that it may burst into a conflagration that gives glory to God, that my life might be a window to his saving grace, to his glorious love, to his awesome wonder and power and might, that my voice might be lifted up around the throne of God for his eternal praise and glory.  I pray that this might be true, that the entire church might sing the glorious praise songs of God, and that our voices might unite to create a thunderous rally cry that makes Satan quake in fear of what might be, that makes the angels dance with joy, that makes God glad, that leads other hearts to fall before him and confess him as Lord.  May the church look outward, at what might be, rather than backward at what has been, and may we do so with complete confidence in our Lord and Savior to lead us forward as the passionate people of God.