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A man shocked me one day when he said, “You Christians don’t love Christ. You hate Christ. You hate what Christ stands for.” He continued, “You cover up your own hatred and fear of Christ by talking about how much you love Jesus. But, if you love Jesus, why don’t you love your enemies? If you love Jesus, why don’t you really obey the gospel, most of which you ignore?”

I heard those words and I trembled inside, thinking, My God, is that true of me? Brothers and sisters, just open Mark’s Gospel. Most of us haven’t paid attention to 90 percent of it. Most of the passages are just conveniently ignored by the institutional church and by ourselves. In fact, we often do the exact opposite of what Jesus teaches about, as if a bigger lie is easier to cover up. Christians and their bishops have been condoning and participating in war, greed and false security for centuries, while calling themselves the Body of Christ, or even “The Magisterium” (read authorized institutional spiritual authority). Matthew 23 would seemingly make us unwilling to wear a long robe or tassels ever again! Strange, isn’t it?

When was the last time you heard of someone being thrown out of the church for not rejoicing and exalting Him when confronted with criticism? (Matthew 5:11-13). Why don’t we make that a matter for excommunication? The thought never entered our minds.

From Richard Rohr, “Letting Go: A Spirituality of Subtraction”

The original title of Rohr’s selection was “Do We Love Christ?” I decided it had been incorrectly titled. “Do We Love Christ?” is answerable without much thought. Most of us nod our heads, and move on without even reading the material. So, for today’s devotional, I took liberty of changing it. If you are still reading, I guess it somewhat worked.

Are we sure we love the Christ? The universal-cosmic presence of God in all of heaven and earth? It takes a certain amount of expansion in consciousness and spiritual awareness to grasp that. Having “eyes to see” isn’t a foregone conclusion. Just because I read and study my Bible, because I go to church, and because I pay my tithes, doesn’t necessarily mean I have “eyes to see or ears to hear” what the Spirit of all truth is laying down. There is so much uncomfortable value in Rohr’s words. I think he’s saying that loving Jesus, believing in Jesus, praising Jesus, is all good. But, those are not the all-encompassing main events. All of that can be done out of a spirit of religious pretense. It’s in FOLLOWING Jesus where the shift to the Christ consciousness begins to happen.

In fact, we often do the exact opposite of what Jesus teaches about, as if a bigger lie is easier to cover up. —Rohr

Quite a bit of the Church has settled for a precise and “certain” theological understanding that has all of the answers to its own selective questions. “Christ” isn’t Jesus’s last name. Though Christ does incorporate the works and words of Jesus, the pre and post resurrection reality of the Christ is all inclusive and encompasses all. The Christ is mind-boggling reality of infinitesimal Presence, and you and I are a part of that presence, whether we’re cooperating and in sync, or not. That is precisely the point Rohr is making. The way we participate (dare I say, “properly”), is to really follow (walk out, live out) the Way of Jesus. Can we honestly say we’re doing that? Or are we more concerned with “legalistic posturing” in order to justify our behavior and intent? Do we manipulate scripture and allow fear, unhealed wounds, things we hate, things we love, things we profit from, politics, and even church leadership to dictate our focus?

I’m not sure I know how it happened, but I ended up plowing a lot deeper here than I originally intended. So, to gear it down to something more manageable, I just wonder if we’d all be wider-awake in kingdom reality if we were more practically engaged. Can we hold ourselves and one another accountable to living Jesus’ values, character qualities, and ways of dealing with other humans who are not always living their best selves? That, in and of itself, should expand and immerse us in the genuine love of Christ.

MDP

LIVE YOUR LOVE AND BE GOOD AT LIFE.