Nathan Campbell is a Brisbane based pastor who offers his thoughts on the response to the recent shootings in Paris, emphasising that the Christian’s primary identification is always with Jesus and the cross.
I think the central theme that he identifies here should be central to Christians trying to respond to this and other tragic situations.
…when it comes to transforming the broken world, and when it comes to the transformation being conformed into the image of Jesus involves, there’s a certain flavour to what Jesus did that goes beyond employing pen or sword to triumph over our enemies.
The use of the sword or the pen as a means to fix this broken world will only be temporary so long as their use is detached from God’s own solution to the mess. Jesus. Specifically the Cross. If we want real and permanent solutions that transform humanity for the better, then the Cross must organise our approach to chaos, and our wielding of pen or sword.
Je suis Jesus. The mark I make on the broken world should not be in my name, or the name of my ideology, or my platform. If I am Jesus, if I am being conformed to his image, if I am to represent and identify with him, the mark I make should look much more like the mark he made. Not with the pen, not with the sword, but with the Cross.
Read the whole post here.
mgpcpastor's blog 