We live in a messy culture these days.
Headline after headline, post after post on social media seems to be in what sometimes seems like a digital schizophrenia. People on both sides of the sweeping changes we are going through are making intentional comments either to decry or support what is happening.
Others seem oblivious.
Others perhaps are cautious to get into the fray.
Like it or not, our culture is going through a sweeping change right now, politically, religiously, culturally, and economically.
It was no different in the time of Christ, or frankly, among the disciples of Christ.
Several were burly, earthy fishermen who while they had religious sensibilities, they were more “cultural” Jews than spiritual ones.
One was a tax collector who had drunk the “Roman Kool-aid” and was called in the very act of collecting taxes for the Roman empire.
One was a political Zealot that probably had a difficult time with Jesus’ parables and talk of some “airy fairy” Kingdom of Heaven.
And one went to the arrest scene ready to conceal and carry rather than let Jesus reveal and carry the Cross — which absolutely made no sense for any of them.
Even after the resurrection, they were all over the page, and confused.
Acts 1:6 (NIV) — “Then they gathered around Him and asked Him, ‘Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?'”
Even after all of Christ’s teachings about the Kingdom of God, they still thought it was about “MIGA” — Make Israel Great Again.
Acts 1:7-8 (NIV) — “He said to them: ‘It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by His own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.'”
It’s not about the greatness of your physical kingdom, He said.
It’s also not about me landing on any of the sides you may humanly favor.
It’s about you becoming ambassadors of Jesus.
About you receiving power from Him and using it to witness about the reality of Him and His Kingdom which ALREADY IS near.
And it’s about building “Kingdom Embassies” that will thrive with God’s true life of love and give and connection and convergence, no matter what political and religious tension is going on in the world around you.
AWOP is dedicated to doing this. And Smiling Icon Ministries is too. Resourcing images of God to become smiling icons, Holy Spirit hotspots, spreading contagious holiness, one person, one church, one company, one business network at a time. Creating bastions of God’s life in the marketplace and beyond.
In James Hilton’s novel Lost Horizon, there’s a mythical place called Shangri-La. It was an enclave of the best that culture had developed up to that point hidden away in the mountains, safe away from the raging wars of the world. It was founded for that purpose to preserve the best of society so that when the madness was over, the world’s beauty and truth could once again spread.
Christ IS the truth. Not just “a truth”. But He IS the truth and the life and the way. Figuring out what that means and living out of that is a good thing for us all to focus on, always. And be grounded in.
The life of God cannot be suppressed, and it will continue to be expressed in people I call “Smiling Icons” who are not AWOL in their faith but AWOP — at work on purpose. Smiling Icons that are filled with the life of God, cherish it, preserve it, and spread it quietly, shoulder to shoulder, business network to business network, company to company as the church once again becomes what it’s meant to be — at work on purpose, for the showing, glowing, and spreading of the life of God.
***
1 Jim 16:18 — And I tell you that you are Smiling Icons — activated and contagious images of God and you are to be at work on purpose in the marketplace. And on this Rock — Jesus — with stones like you, He will build and preserve the beauty of His church, even in the marketplace.
Rise above the fray. And shine the life of Christ to all.
