Weight of the World part 1
This Rant series is for all of us (me included) who find it easy to get caught up in everything else that's going on. Who find it easy to focus on external stuff. Who sometimes get buried under the weight of the world. And what we're really going to explore for the next couple of days is the truth found in John 15:19, "If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you." We're in the world, but not of the world, right? I think sometimes it feels like the world is trying to bury us for that very reason: Because what the world has to offer no longer appeals to us. We can't just accept things as they seem to be. We know there's a more excellent way and we refuse to settle. This, I really think, is why we seem to struggle so much. Things don't "look right," if I can say it that way. And we spend a lot of time and energy trying to "change things." This is a formula for disaster. Because, the bottom line is, things don't need to change. Things changed 2,000 years ago on the cross. So if we're trying to finish a work that is already finished... of course we're never going to be able to feel like we're accomplishing anything. Like the thief and robber who tries to enter the sheepfold any other way except the door (Jesus) we are robbing ourselves. We are struggling against the weight of the world, when Jesus already rolled the stone away! We are trying to change things on an external level when Jesus changed us (past tense) from the inside-out. The Kingdom of God is within you. It doesn't come from observation--from observing the external Law of Moses, or from looking with our natural eyes. What things look like are NOT always what they really are. That's why we walk by faith and not by sight. In the world... but not of the world. Not compatable with the world. Uncomfortable with the world. And I'm not saying we should allow ourselves to be uncomfortable with the PEOPLE of the world. Jesus was a friend of sinners. The only people Jesus ever got mad at or turned away were religious folk. Because He knew they weren't interested in what He had to offer. But as far as the people in the world go... I'm not saying we should be comfortable with everything they do, but we have to accept them for who they are. We have to show them something different than what the world shows them. We have to show compassion, instead of condemnation. Grace instead of Law. We can't pile on, because the world is already burying and crushing people. People who don't know what's inside them. People who don't know who they really are, where they really are, or why they're here. Let me say it this way: The fire in us is always hotter than the fire we're in. The Kingdom inside of us--righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost--CANNOT be crushed by the weight of the world. And because of that, we can help bear others up. We can help carry that weight. We can share the Kingdom!