JUMP IN THE MUDDY RIVER
I recently heard Rick Rusaw (Pastor and writer) from Longmont, CO. speak and he talked about two rivers that run by churches. There is one out the front door that is muddy; murky; filled with nasty stuff; and just plain dirty. The second is out the back door and it is a so-called pristine and clean river that only “christians” can jump into. His comments show us that too many “christians” are hanging out by the so-called clean river and jumping into that river because is quote/unquote “safe and clean”. When in fact, if we were to follow the model of Jesus and be true “Christ-Followers”, we would actually be jumping in the muddy river. Modeling Jesus means risk; it means getting dirty; it means trial and error; it means living in a world that is not pristine and clean. I think Erwin McManus put it best in his book the Barbarian Way - “No reasonable person would ever fully follow God everywhere he calls. God is simply unreasonable.”
A perfect example of this is a link my brother in law sent me earlier this week, and then yesterday I was looking another fellow walker’s blog (http://www.gregnettle.com/) where the topic of http://www.godtube.com/ vs. http://www.youtube.com/ was discussed. Both are in concurrence as I am, that this a great example of “christians” separating themselves instead of taking the risk of jumping in the muddy river!
I used to struggle with this idea alot. The verse of “set no unholy thing before my eyes (Psalm 101:3)” continuously rang through my head as I struggled with secular music, movies, TV, and even people. However, as God has continuously worked on my heart, I realized that I am “unholy” without Christ. He is the only proper cleansing power. So.., maybe, just maybe - the whole idea of that passage is to jump into the muddy river - share the power of Christ by being the Kingdom of God on earth in the muddy river and let the Power of God/Christ/Holy Spirit clean the dirty River. That is what we are called to do is it not (Matt. 28:18-20 & Acts 1:8)? Is this a reasonable prospect God proposes? Nope, sure isn’t!
So.., you wanna be a risk-taker?; you wanna be in a true “extreme” reality show?; or do you wanna be a real revolutionary? - then “JUMP IN THE MUDDY RIVER!” Just don’t swallow the water! 