Safe Spaces

November 18, 2015

Safe Spaces

Now that you know these things, God will bless you for doing them.

John 13:17

I suspect the average Christian would be shocked by how much they actually know of the teachings of Jesus. These followers of Jesus have internalized more of the Sermon on the Mount, the parables of Jesus, and Jesus’ seven I AM statements than they realize. Lack of knowledge isn’t the issue; implementing that knowledge is. The Apostle James paraphrased Jesus when he wrote, “But be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves” (James 1:22 NRSV). We need to take seriously this counsel from James.

When we have our face-to-face encounter with Jesus, I suspect much will shock us when we fully grasp Jesus’ perspective on our life. At the top of that list will be the wide, Grand Canyon-like gap between our perspective today on how we can live our life for Christ, and Jesus’ expectation on what truly trusting him looks like.

Using visuals from the land where I live, it is the difference between taking a leisurely stroll around the small and placid entrance pond to our community, and whitewater kayaking the Nantahala River. I’ll let you guess which one puts a smile on Jesus’ face.

Today there is a huge need for the followers of Jesus to take public, Christ-like stands on the issues of our times. Following the terrorist attacks in Paris, many Christians followed the trend of superimposing the colors of the French flag over their profile photo on social media. This sign of solidarity with the French nation was a good thing. However, I don’t recall similar expressions following the slaughter by terrorists of almost 150 Christians at a college in Kenya not that long ago. Why the difference? And the Christians have been just as loud as the secular population on social media calling for violent retribution and an end to the US accepting Syrian refugees. In these very complex and dangerous times, our world is desperate for the followers of Christ to practice WWJD before they speak or act.

Much has been written in the last few years about the yearnings of people for safe spaces. The only truly safe place Jesus knew was his prayer closet. Should his followers expect anything more?

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

·        The second edition of  First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188.