30 Aug 2010
Put up or shut up
Forget the power plays
I recently was surprised to discover just how much political power plays are part of life.
My favourite television show is the West Wing, so it probably shouldn’t have surprised me as much as it did.
I also realised how easy it is to respond to politics with politics, with the agenda moving to building coalitions rather than building the Kingdom.
A quick survey of church history shows that politics is almost never the way to grow the Kingdom.
Jesus had the opportunity to persuade some of the most politically powerful men in the world in his time, yet chose to remain silent with them and save his attention for more ordinary people.
Paul too, wasn’t a political success. In the end he was killed by the political power of the day.
Paul though, says the political game was never the main one:
Our work as God’s servants gets validated—or not—in the details.
People are watching us as we stay at our post, alertly, unswervingly . . .
in hard times, tough times, bad times;
when we’re beaten up, jailed, and mobbed;
working hard, working late, working without eating;
with pure heart, clear head, steady hand;
in gentleness, holiness, and honest love;
when we’re telling the truth, and when God’s showing his power;
when we’re doing our best setting things right;
when we’re praised, and when we’re blamed;
slandered, and honored;
true to our word, though distrusted;
ignored by the world, but recognized by God;
terrifically alive, though rumored to be dead;
beaten within an inch of our lives, but refusing to die;
immersed in tears, yet always filled with deep joy;
living on handouts, yet enriching many;
having nothing, having it all.
(2 Cor 6:3-11)
This is a different way of looking at power.
Paul is saying that eventually that motivation will become self-evident, not through power plays but through the simple details of ordinary life.
When it comes to living faith it really comes down to putting up or shutting up.
If my motivation is genuinely serving Jesus, then my life will count where it matters.
If my motivation is personal success or power, eventually that too will count: against me.