The Temptation to be Obnoxious
On a bus full of strangely quiet people. The goofy side of me wants to start talking abruptly and loudly on this number 40 bus to draw their attention away from their phones. I’m on mine too writing this. That's probably better.
I’m usually not the guy who disrupts... or at least try not to be.
But as I see the status quo and grow weary of how Jesus has no place in the lives of the people around me... it makes me a little more desirous to shake things up. But that’s not my job. (Good thing) Mine is to treasure Jesus and walk in his Spirit.
Jesus is the Right Kind of Disruptive
The thing is: Jesus is humbly disruptive. (I would be obnoxious) His life among us showed it. He was never satisfied with the status quo. He knew our sinful status quo just keeps us bored and selfish all the the way to our destruction.
Picture Jesus walking into the temple courts with a zeal that consumed him for what his Father's house should be. (see Matthew 21:12-17) There was nothing weak or fearful about him, no false politeness or capitulation to the "way things are," but only a resilient passion to see His Father honored by his people enjoying prayerful fellowship with the Father rather than seeking unjust gain. So he drove people out of the temple. He disrupted their day, their business, and their lives by acting on what mattered to him.
(Also notice that even as he drove people out with authority, the broken and the weak were not afraid to come to him. They still saw tenderness in his eyes. I long to be like Jesus in both!)
Disrupted the Stranglehold of Sin
Jesus' authoritative love saturates all he does. That love- along with the strength of his humility- is always disrupting our lives..showing us a life better than the sin we think is real life and shaking up our definition of joy. Like C.S. Lewis said “we are far too easily pleased”with the muck of sin and unaware to the playful satisfying joy of all he has for us that sin blinds us too.
Distrupted the Passing Reign of Death
How wide eyed must the disciples have been to see a once-dead man waking? Startled into faith. What is starling is that the most “natural” and widespread of all human functions was not just pushed around but overcome from the inside out.Jesus was living proof to those fear filled men that death isn’t the final word. Death reigned until Jesus did. Because of that, if Jesus is our master than death is not.
Our Desire for Our Lives to Be Distrupted
Now I’m standing in the rain at one last bus stop before I get home and kiss my favorite people in the whole world goodnight. Its raining on both me and the anonymous people standing with me waiting for the 31 bus. Though these neighbors are anonymous, I have met so many people like them who have no room (yet) for new life...no desire (yet) to be disrupted. But that’s my prayer for them now as I type on my phone...that Jesus would graciously disrupt their lives that someday they would worship him for doing so.