What Does it Take to Change?

A friend of mine challenged me today as to whether the knowledge of the love of Christ actually changes the behavior of individuals.

As I've been dwelling on this question, I couldn't help but think of a poem I recently read recently in a terrific book, Exiles: Living Missionally in a Post-Christian Culture by Michael Frost (co-author of The Shaping of Things to Come, also an excellent book.)

The poem is a call to reckless courage; to stand up against the injustice inherent in our world. (The poem can be found on pages 20 & 21 of the book)

What is, therefore, the task of the preacher (or church) today?
Shall I answer: "Faith, hope and love"?
That sounds beautiful.
But I would say - Courage.
No, even that is not challenging enough to be the whole truth.
Our task today is recklessness.
For what we Christians lack is not psychology or literature,
we lack a holy rage.

The recklessness that comes from the knowledge of God and humanity.
The ability to rage when justice lies prostrate on the street...
and when the lie rages across the face of the earth -
a holy anger about things that are wrong in the world.
To rage against the ravaging of God's earth,
and the destruction of God's world.
To rage when little children must die of hunger,
when the tables of the rich are sagging with food.
To rage at the senseless killing of so many,
and against the madness of militaries.
To rage at the lie that calls the threat of death and the strategy of
destruction - Peace.
To rage against complacency.
To restlessly seek that recklessness that will challenge and seek to change
human history until it conforms with the norms of the Kingdom of
God.
And remember the signs of the Christian Church have always been -
The Lion, the Lamb, the Dove and the Fish...
but never the chameleon.

This poem inspires me, but the real test of inspiration is change. Does it arouse me enough to transform my behavior?

I've read a lot of stuff lately that has challenged me and poked holes in ideas and philosophies I've always held to. I'm inspired to change and yet the fact is that my behavior today is not significantly different than it was this time last year...or the year before. I feel like I approach the line of change, touch it with the tip of my toe, and then move back again, frightened of moving outside what I know. I become anxious when I consider change. My natural self pushes back when my lifestyle feels as if it is being squished or pulled into a new shape, a new form.

What must I do to take those necessary steps...to become reckless? Here are a couple thoughts that come to my mind:

1. I have to understand the recklessness of Christ's love for me. The radical nature of his sacrifice and the work of God through history to reconcile relationships between humanity and God is both overwhelming and challenging in its scope. There's no way when you spend time considering that type of love that you cannot also recognize that it calls for a change in you. That doesn't necessarily make the change easier, but it certainly makes it more difficult to ignore.
2. I have to make a commitment and share it with someone who will hold me accountable. I've learned I can talk big, but the fact is if I don't follow these steps, my words are full of emptiness.
3. I have to honor and celebrate the small steps. I find it easy to discount the small changes because I have not yet attained the end goal. But even the smallest of changes alter my overall trajectory. In the book, "Exiles", Frost talks about what he calls "New Realists". These folks understand that much of their lives appear as a hypocrisy, but they also recognize that awareness and ongoing change is the goal.

Today I recognize some small changes. I'm volunteering at a booth for the local Women's Crisis Center in a few weeks. I started making my own bread a couple weeks ago so that I could afford organic bread. My children and I are talking about what it means to serve Jesus. I'm paying attention to where the clothing I am purchasing is made. These are small steps. They are not changing the world. But they are steps I need to make and I celebrate them and thank God for moving in my heart to coax me out of a place of comfort into these steps on the journey.