Christians with Arms Outstretched

Jesus arrived on the scene to three groups of Jews who should have recognized him as the Messiah, but didn't. The quietists had withdrawn from the evil world in order to escape from everything. The compromisers were folks who acquiesced to the people in power in order to build themselves up and maintain their positions (no matter how pathetic those positions may have been). The zealots were angry and militant, seeking to overthrow those in power at any given time. All three groups of people failed to realize that the kingdom of God was at hand. They completely missed the point of why God had them here on this earth!

In modern Christianity we still have these same three groups of people. The quietist Christians believe the world has become too evil and they have withdrawn to their Christian safe places, essentially leaving themselves absolutely no influence on culture. The compromiser Christians can be found all around us, especially in America, where one can hardly tell the difference between their lives and those who do not believe in Christ. The zealot Christians are all around us, too, angry at the world, and with hate in their eyes as their fingers grip their megaphones at their rallies and buying up more guns and alienating themselves from as many people as possible who happen to think differently than they do. These three groups of people are also missing the point of why God has them here on this earth!

"The way of Christian witness is neither the way of quietist withdrawal, nor the way of Herodian compromise, nor the way of angry militant zeal. It is the way of being in Christ, in the Spirit, at the place where the world is in pain, so that the healing love of God may be brought to bear at that point. This perspective is deeply rooted in New Testament theology, not least in Romans 8. There Paul speaks of the whole creation groaning together in travail. Where should the church be at such a time? Sitting smugly on the sidelines, knowing it's got the answers? No, says Paul: we ourselves groan too, because we too long for renewal, for final liberation. And where is God in all this? Sitting up in heaven wishing we could get our act together? No, says Paul (8:26-27): God is groaning too, present within the church at the place where the world is in pain. God the Spirit groans within us, calling in prayer to God the Father. The Christian vocation is to be in prayer, in the Spirit, at the place where the world is in pain, and as we embrace that vocation, we discover it to be the way of following Christ, shaped according to his messianic vocation of the cross, with arms outstretched, holding simultaneously to the pain of the world and to the love of God." - NT Wright

We need to engage, folks. But, not arrogantly out of our own human effort which we assume represents God's perspective on how the world ought to function. It starts with our intimate relationship with Christ, out of an attitude of humility and God's sovereignty, out of prayer. Let's be Christians with arms outstretched to the pain of the world and to the love of God.