Can two walk together, unless they are agreed?
Mahatma Gandhi (10.2.1869 to 1.30.1948) was a non-violent
revolutionary in India who led his country to freedom from British colonial
rule in 1947. What resonated with me is how he challenged others, “Be the
change that you wish to see in the world.” It puts the responsibility of
transformation on the individual, going beyond dreaming about freedom to doing
something about it!
What change would we as Christians like to see take place in our
community, city, state, country, and the world today and what are we doing
about it. Advancing the kingdom of God is a worthy cause. We know Jesus is the
answer to what is destroying our world, but being the change that you wish to
see in the world would make you a target by the enemy, yes? So, we decide not
to reflect on the change.
“Be the change that you wish to see in the world” is some edgy
stuff, yes? Walking the talk puts us on the radar, “You must be a Christian!” This
challenge by Mahatma Gandhi not only questions the sincerity of our dreams but
our resolve and commitment to live the change we want to see in the world. Somebody
once said, “We may be the only Jesus; people will ever see this side of
eternity!” Now, I don’t know about you, but that makes me a little leery about
ever going back outside again, but that doesn’t square with going
in Mt 28:19-20 or Mt 5:14-16!
Though Mr. Gandhi was rooted in ancient Hinduism, we as Christians
should not be so quick to throw out the baby with the bathwater because a
person of another faith said something strikingly true. As born again believers,
we do not have a patent on the truth. A very liberating idea is that all whole
truth is of God whether it comes from those who are broken spiritually or not.
Jesus is the incarnate truth (Jn 14:6); Satan is the father of
lies (Jn 8:44), but if a pagan mathematician tells me 1+1=2, it would be silly
for me to say, “It cannot be true because you are not saved!” We are not
talking about spiritual truth here. Personally, I place no confidence in
the natural man’s opinion of the Bible, and for good reason;
the Holy Spirit does not dwell within a natural or sensual man (cf. 1 Cor 2:14;
Jude 1:19; 2 Cor 4:4).
As far as I know, Mahatma Gandhi never experienced being born
again (Jn 3:3), but he also was known to draw from the well of Christian
doctrines, too! I am not suggesting everything he may have cited from the Bible
is accurate (cf. 1 Cor 2:14; 2 Cor 4:4) because his Hindu worldview is pagan to
the core. If he had embraced the golden rule, that would have been great. I am
of the opinion if mankind would try and truly live by the golden rule, this
world, though sinful and needing a Redeemer, would be radically different than
the world we are living in now.
But if a man or woman quotes the whole truth of an idea, it
doesn’t change the quality of the truth. Mr. Gandhi understood how vital it was
for him as a promoter or a follower of a national ambition to live free from
British rule. He had to walk the talk of liberation, and not be sending a conflicting
message by waving the Union Jack as he is walking the talk of freedom! Many
so-called Christians are sending a lot of conflicting messages to the world
today. The world has no problem pointing out our inconsistencies or
hypocrisies.
The whole truth is truth, yes? It was such a liberating truth
for me to see and hear godly professors embrace this pithy philosophy for
Christian living. I say the whole truth because we know that a
half-truth is a lie or anything less than whole is a deception. A “white” lie
is still a lie. We might perk up when someone who is a Christian cites a famous
Hindu like Mahatma Gandhi. Then after the pause of shock, the critical claws of
smugness and sanctimoniousness are protracted!
I definitely am not of the Hindu persuasion, but Mr. Gandhi was
spot-on about being the change that you wish to see in the world, right? Do we
not like that statement because Gandhi said it, or are we uncomfortable with
what that might look like and mean as a believer in being an effective witness
for the glory of God? How many older people do you know that hate any kind of
change!? Dreams are not just for the naïve and idealists. We know how the world
will end, but until then, we are to be witnesses for the glory of God. Noah was
about the Lord’s work until Yahweh shut the door on the ark.
“Be the change that you wish to see in the world.”
Everything hinges on that noun “the change,” yes? And then there is the challenge of the energy verb from the outset – “be,” the priority. This moves dreams from the heart down to where the rubber hits the road, putting walk to the talk. “See” speaks of a vision, embracing a worldview. Mahatma Gandhi envisioned a country without colonial rule, and his life mirrored that desire. Let’s take a look at this principle of walking the talk as believers in Jesus Christ. It’s a powerful, interchangeable principle; let’s call it the Hypocrisy Vaccine, yes?
Can you as a believer in Jesus Christ see the importance of us
who follow Him and walk the talk? Failure to do so would be tantamount to
hypocrisy, yes? Jesus thought, talked, and walked the will of God the Father
(cf. Jn 8:29b; Lk 22:42). Jesus also gave us a pattern on how that walk the
talk was to look like by following His lead and example (Mt 16:24). It stands
to reason if everything Jesus did was pleasing to the Father then if we follow
the walk and talk of Jesus according to the Scriptures, we will be pleasing to
the Father as well, yes?
Well, maybe not to the extent that Jesus pleased the Father
given the fact that unlike us, Jesus was sinless, but when we miss that mark of
His standard of holiness, we have an Advocate (1 Jn 2:1; cf. 1 Jn 1:9; 4:4)!
Thank you, Jesus!
Often, we fail to mount the starting blocks and run this race of
faith for Jesus because we are predisposed in believing that our imperfections
will interfere with crossing the line; so, we rationalize it away, “Why run?”
We think that our sinfulness is greater than the Holy Spirit can handle in
order for us to be successful (cf. 1 Cor 10:13; 1 Jn 4:4; 5:4)! For sure,
yielding to willful sin is debilitating, but there is that familiar verse that
people love to quote in Php 4:13. That has the smell of victory, yes (cf. 1 Jn
5:4)?
Why do Christians concoct this idea in their heads that since no
one is perfect, it is unnecessary that our walk matches our talk perfectly as saved
sinners? If we are not in pursuit of glorifying God in all that we think, say,
and do, then there are consequences for disagreeing with His will and
Sovereignty. Is it possible that our adversary doesn’t want us to run the race
of faith for Jesus? He’s the one in the stands yelling at you to get off the
track because you are nothing but a hypocrite. I have been to those track
meets!
Satan would like nothing better than for you and me to hang up
our spiritual running shoes, but Jesus commands that we follow
Him (Mt 16:24) and that is the same thing as running the race of faith, yes?
The mood of the verb follow is not only an
imperative, making a demand of us, but the tense of the verb indicates that we
are to run this race in following Jesus for the duration of
our lives! So, it’s not limited to a Sunday sprint, Easter, Christmas, a
funeral, or a wedding!
You do know that it is impossible to walk the talk in a way
pleasing to God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit in our
own strength? The race of faith is impossible to run for any believer
without Jesus (cf. Jn 15:5) which may explain less participation in the running
of faith events due to half-hearted, lukewarmness, coldness, and cherry-picking
the Scriptures on what to obey and disregard. Disobedience loves to bail out on
Yahweh.
The will of God cannot be manhandled; we must be energized by
the Holy Spirit in holiness (cf. Gal 5:16; Eph 5:18). We cannot save ourselves
in our own strength; we cannot live the Life of Christ in our own strength, and we
certainly cannot keep ourselves saved in our own strength. And the reason for
this is that a life lived for Jesus Christ is all Spirit-powered that
requires a holy and surrendered soul to the Sovereignty of the Spirit (cf. Eph
5:18; Zech 4:6). Can you see why running independently of God is unfruitful and
highly unwise? <><
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| To Part 2 |
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