Have you ever noticed how some of the most significant and profound moments of spiritual change happen in the smallest, quietest and most humble situations? This is kind of a weird thing, because lots of Christian-looking events and gatherings are big and flashy - church services and worship concerts in fancy arenas with thousands of people, laser light shows and chart-topping bands. In my experience, however, people’s lives change most in one-on-one conversations in coffee shops while no one else is looking. I’ve seen people really give their heart to the Lord in moments of failure, humiliation, tragedy and disease. Despite the glitzy image and talk of many Christian groups, the Kingdom of God is advancing in the midst of pain and friendship, sorrow and service. There is a place at the end of the book of Hebrews that talks about how the priests in the old sacrificial system would take the blood of the sacrificed animal into the temple, but the bodies would be burned outside the camp, in disgrace. This writer goes on to say that Jesus suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy by His blood. The way of Jesus is that of exclusion and disgrace. It’s the way of service to the weak and troubled. Jesus identifies with the poor, hated, hurting and lonely. The writer then goes on to say that for this reason we should go to Him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace He bore because this world is not our home. Let’s build the Kingdom alongside Jesus. Let’s embrace exclusion, humility, and want. Let’s give ourselves to serve the broken and ignored. This world is fancy and fine, but it is not our home.
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