an ocean flows from you

how we act determines the kind of world we’re creating. when i read this line in rob bell’s ‘sex god’, i had a mindchange moment.

we’re going through this series in oasis about injustice in the world, and i thought about all of this, because we’re to ‘shine like stars’ in this world of darkness (another phrase that sticks in my head and churns everything up – the preconceptions, the ideas and the thoughts).

how do we shine in this world, being part of it, living out a kingdom life where God’s love is lived through our actions and words, and still be apart from the dirt and grime that’s here too? every day is a challenge to live in the footsteps of Jesus, and His example of how to live life is a radical one.

i read on a friend’s blog yesterday that he’s reading ‘the irresistible revolution’ by shane claiborne. we’re “ordinary radicals” because we’re part of this world as much as people who have no idea about and don’t want to know about this God so many people have put their faith in but simultaneously, we’re to be apart from it too, seeking revolution in this darkness, in this injustice. does that make sense? and the more we’re unloving, judgemental, critical and hypocritical, the further away and lost a world already lost gets.

it’s time to put down our picket fences, our walls, the “us-ness” we’ve become so comfortable with. it’s time to start truly loving and serving the people that God’s put around us. and when we start loving people like we’re loving God, the change to this world will be impossible to ignore, to disregard. life will be lived again, addictions broken, fear killed and hearts healed.

it’s time for revolution.

"this is about that"

we’re in this time where who we “are” is defined by the degree to which our clothes are revealing, or the shape we are. at different times in history, it’s been defined by an assortment of things: the size of a woman’s behind, the way a person walks, the sound of their voice, the fragility of personality and so on, and for some, this is known as ‘sexiness’. and so, we have a generation of girls who take to heart the latter half of the well-known motto regarding having and flaunting, and show and show and show. and we have a generation of young men who swagger and strut and look at things that will rot in their heads to prove the media’s version of masculinity in themselves. we are told every time we switch on the television, log on to the internet, glance at a billboard, open a newspaper, that we will lead happy, fulfilled lives with every dream having become true if we buy this product, or dress in this way, or walk like this, or touch him/her like this.

and then i read on a blog this morning that godliness is what is truly sexy. it actually said, godliness = sexiness. i have to admit, i was a little taken aback. how can that be true, since our sexual identity isn’t something we talk about? or nurture. except for maybe a few select individuals. there are people we know who perhaps do not emanate physical attractiveness, but the god-attractiveness that’s in them draws us unconsciously near like the smell of fresh baked cookies draws young children. it’s something about them, which we can’t quite put our finger on, that is just so wonderful to look at, to experience, and we just want to be close to them.

i recently finished ‘sex god: exploring the endless connections between sexuality and spirituality’ by rob bell, the guy who wrote ‘velvet elvis‘ and it was very good. he is quite possibly the king of short sentences, but he packs a right hook into them and all eh. he wrote in the introduction, “you can’t talk about sexuality without talking about how we were made. and that will inevitably lead you to who made us. at some point you have to talk about God.” and yeah, it’s because all this talk about sex ultimately leads you right back to God.

maybe our perspectives would change when we realise that sexiness isn’t about how much skin we’re showing, but how much of God’s love we’re showing in our actions, lives and words.