The world is constantly changing, faster now than ever before. Christians offer our faith as the means to discover purpose and to offset the dysfunction and corruption of the world, since we can’t fix it. If what we believe truly offers the answers to the questions of life, then our faith must be more than telling people to be better and do better. Our faith must be able to step into the chaos, just as Jesus did, offering hope and grace, not condemnation. Or to put it another way, does it really matter what you believe? Can faith help us navigate a culture so easily offended by differing opinions? Is it sturdy enough to stand against the uninhibited expression of hatred? Are we simply supposed to be nicer? 

Social Media has become a world filled with people yelling at each other for nothing more than a differing thought. The rapid changes have given us the illusion we are better while magnifying our dysfunction. Jesus entered into a similar mixture of humanity. The world was no less broken in that time than it is now. We think we are better now but in truth, we are not. That is really all we have to offer the world, the admission that we too, are broken. That is the path he invited us to follow. It is also the great difficulty of faith - admitting we are not as good as we think we are. 

In this admission, this confession, is not a one and done event. It is the path of God’s invitation and design for life. It is not a try harder and do better path. It is a learning path. A path of repentance and ongoing discovery of life. If you are looking for a Hallmark, let’s all be nice story and life will be wonderful, this is not it. If like me you are tired of the pretense and think there is more to faith than just trying to be nice, perhaps God will pull back the curtains to help us discover the truth about his provision for our need that enables our faith to flourish in times just like this. 

Welcome to life in a broken world.