In or out

Jesus was always in the midst of the community. He wasn’t afraid to get his hands dirty, to hang out with the wrong crowd, to be present in the daily lives of regular people living their workaday lives, their troubled lives, even their decidedly unethical and unholy lives. He got in and they were never the same. Jesus was all about getting in and having influence.

But all too often people who decide to follow Christ immediately get out of the world. Sever all ties. Get comfortably ensconced in the church subculture. And lose influence.

The call of Christ does not demand that we sacrifice our voice in our communities. Rather the call of Christ is precisely the opposite. We are called to influence people in the world in the name of Christ. And this can’t be done without being in the world.

Are you in?