To be a Renegade
April 23, 2016
“The actual embodiment of God’s kingdom was a walking house of taboos, an atmosphere of no-nos, a renegade to contemporary culture.”
— ERIKA MORRISON IN BANDERSNATCH
RENEGADE.
A PERSON WHO DESERTS AND BETRAYS AN ORGANIZATION, COUNTRY, OR SET OF PRINCIPLES.
Jesus was a renegade.
The world had been operating under its own set of rules, governed by kings who desired power, controlled by armies and the ones with the best weapons. That's how it was.
Then Jesus came.
Our King, on our earth, but not like anyone expected. Not as a solider, not as a commander, not as a dictator.
A baby.
A renegade.
He deserted the ways of the world. Where we had rules, He gave grace. Where we had kings who wanted power, here we had a King who came to serve and save. Where we had armies and wars, He made disciples and brought peace.
All we knew became untrue. To be first now meant to be last. To live now meant to die. To find life, we now had to lose it. It was all nothing like we expected. It was all exactly what we needed.
I get caught up in the ways of the world. I get sucked into the headlines, get obsessed with the trends, get lost in all the noise. You do too, I'm sure. It's not new. It's seductive, this world we live in. It's meant to be. Anything to distract us from the very One who can save us from it and from ourselves. It's easy to become like the world, to say what they say and act like they act and blend right in to the crowds around me. It takes little effort.
But Jesus never blended into the crowds. He always stood out. A renegade King, a baby born to flip it all upside down, a rebel determined to make a new way.
I DON'T WANT TO LOOK LIKE THE WORLD. I WANT TO BE A RENEGADE LIKE JESUS WAS.
It doesn't look like aggression or violence, like shouting with loud signs on street corners or forcing my Gospel down the throats of my peers. It doesn't look like being a brute or a brat. It doesn't look like hateful Facebook comments or anonymous online threats. It doesn't look like nitpicking or attacking or condemning.
“Jesus wrote his own rules of engagement and those rules all boiled down to one: God = love.”
— ERIKA MORRISON IN BANDERSNATCH
It looks like love.
It looks like being hope where there is despair.
It looks like being light where there is darkness.
It looks like being a friend when there has been abandonment.
It looks like reaching out beyond borders.
It looks like engaging instead of ignoring, like serving instead of shunning, like listening instead of judging.
It looks like washing feet, breaking bread, kneeling in prayer, taking up our crosses, and following the Leader.
IT LOOKS LIKE JESUS, AND IT LOOKS LIKE LOVE, AND IT LOOKS NOTHING LIKE THE WORLD EXPECTS.
THAT'S WHAT IT MEANS TO BE A RENEGADE.
Are you in?