stuff i think

Beyond Belief / part 5
...continuing a series on the beliefs that motivate us to action

We believe in the purposes of justice on the earth.

When one starts talking about God and justice, some people get a little squeamish, yet in Luke’s narrative of the life of Jesus, he records Jesus as saying “And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night?” The justice Jesus is speaks of is not vindictive; it’s the righting of wrongs. It is just-ness coming in fullness. Given Jesus’ comments about crying out night and day, there is no better place to launch a justice-oriented lifestyle than out of the context of day and night prayer.

Few people would argue that the world is full of wrongs and ripe for expressions of justice. We hold to the truth that in response to petition to Him, God’s justice will include children being fed, the poor being clothed and healing coming to the land. Rather than rail against the injustices of the world, we are going to take the bull by the horns and right as many wrongs as we can find resources to right. We will feed the hungry, cloth the poor, and care for the widows and orphans – offering them the justice they deserve.

A key part of our role at FOTB will be in mobilizing people to do acts of mercy, caring for the less fortunate and righting wrongs where we find them. For us, because justice must take place, we are moved beyond belief.

We believe in the immediacy of the moment.

Like you, I live in a world full of people fascinated with FDIC 401k’s and BMW 745i’s. Our generation has proven it’s tendency to earn, save, and squander on a larger scale than any generation before them. Against this backdrop of consumption, I feel like an anomaly. I feel little responsibility to keep up with the Jones, with one exception – I want my kids to start out a head and shoulders above the others when it comes to willingness to act on their beliefs.\.

The greatest responsibility that my wife and I have is to our children. Three boys, Jackson, 10, Grayson, 6, and Zion, nearly 2, look to us for food, shelter, social mores and the physical demonstrations of our faith. They will recount little of what we tell them, but much of what they see, and it is what they see Mom and Dad doing that will write the text for their Book of Normal.

It makes me shudder to imagine that at some point ten years in the future that they would articulate their childhood by saying “Mom and Dad always played it safe.” I want to them to grow up living a risky life so that they do not get sucked into the ambivalent safety net that so many resign themselves to. For us, the opportunity to impart a sense of spiritual adventure in our children moves us beyond belief.