THE FAITH OF CENTURION (Matthew 8)

 IDENTIFYING WITH JESUS.

Time after time  I find that men and women in the prisons of America want nothing to do with the church or with Christianity. They cannot relate to the lavish buildings and stained-glass windows because they see the church as a manifestation of the culture that has rejected them and holds them prisoner. But I see those same people come alive when I talk about Jesus the prisoner, the outcast who was followed by a dirty dozen, the One who was laid in a borrowed manger, rode on a borrowed donkey, was arrested, hung on a cross between two thieves, and  then buried in a borrowed tomb. They can understand and identify with Jesus of the Scriptures, not with a Christ who appears to have just stepped out of a Brooks Brothers catalog.

The longer I'm a Christian, the more I realize that the vague deity of American civil religion is a heretical rejection of the Christ of the Holy Scripture. So don't confuse your loyalties - never assume the will of the majority and the will of God are synonymous. They may be different- and frequently are.

The Christian is committed to work for justice and righteousness, to bring the gospel of Christ to bear in all areas of life to make a difference in society. But we do it by the integrity of our witness, not by resorting to quick, simplistic cliches. (Charles C.)

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