flavor & gleam

My church has been doing a series on the Beatitudes and today's sermon focused on Matthew 5:13-16 --being the salt and the light. Don Davis rephrased the statement as saying we are to "Bring the flavor, and get your gleam on." Christians are supposed to be different. We should be the moon, reflecting God's light. Rob Bell said that all of us broken, messed up, inadequate losers are God's plan. When Jesus preached about spreading salvation, he was talking about us. What's the plan for getting this done? You are. I am.

In this day and age, I am disheartened when I hear Christians spreading the Word of God by forcibly imposing beliefs on others, declaring political opinions with a "Christian" label on them, or placing their agendas above relationships. It makes me even more disheartened when I see it coming out of my own mouth.

In any frustrating, angry, upsetting, tragic, livid, pmsy, chaotic, hostile, or unfair situation where there is a cliche and socially acceptable response, I want to pause and do the unexpected. I frequently find myself in situations where I say things out of anger or don't say things for selfish reasons. In my mind I think, "I could say this... but I won't." After the situation passes, friends will validate my actions and say "I would have reacted that way too. It's totally understandable." But is it? As Christians, aren't we supposed to be different. Much like the Amish response to the shooting in their school, doesn't this gesture of love speak louder than hatred? Although it's completely aggravating and emotionally draining to withhold those hurtful insults when you yourself were hurt, refraining from taking low shots when the argument escalates out of your control, and turning the other cheek more than once, isn't there more hope and restoration in the alternative? It seems so clear, but is so easily passed over and justified.

These thoughts led me to think about forgiveness. God calls us to forgive 70 x 7 times. God has forgiven me thousands of times. I think it is easy for Christians to say, "I forgive you," but not move forward from there. Forgiveness is not necessarily restoration, but should we not strive for that? I have been told, "You can only turn your cheek so many times. You can't let people take advantage of you." Did Jesus himself not undergo torture, pain, and death for us? Are we not to live by his example? Where is the line between selflessness and self-preservation? My instinct tells me that God would not want us to doubt erring on the side of selflessness. I sometimes fear being selfless, as sinful people will take advantage of me. Is that still a good enough reason to stop laying myself down for others as God did for me?

Being a hypocrite is frustrating. I'm going to try to be different. Imagine us all trying to act differently, we would truly be the salt and light in this world. We can bring a lot of flavor and a lot of gleam to a very bland and dark world.