February 2017

Jottings…

We have words for people who get overly excited about following Jesus. “Fanatic” is one of them. Another is “radical.” They are usually characterized by a lifestyle significantly different from most Christians and quoting the words of Jesus like they were meant to be believed and followed.

I find the word “radical” fascinating. You hear it applied to Muslims in the times in which we live as those who are willing to commit terrorist acts on behalf of their religion. My teen and college years were spent in a time of social upheaval led by “radicals.” Interestingly enough, the word radical in its base idea means “to get to the root of.” Thus we would not be far off at all to call Jesus a radical and to describe his sermon on the mount as radical because they get at the root of what God is like and the what the kingdom is like that Jesus came to establish.

We will spend the month of February in our Sunday services finding out more of what Jesus had to say about loving God and living for Him in his sermon on the mount. Jesus had some radical notions about that. And on Mondays to Saturdays we can get radical about how we apply those teachings to our own lives as we serve and witness. Nothing wrong with that at all since all we are doing is getting back to the root of what it means to be a Christ follower.

- Pastor Brian