Zealots

Seth Godin wrote a blog post recently about zealots.

Although his writing is geared more for a marketing and business audience, much of what he says can apply to our Christian walk as well.

His post on zealots is a post that I think we could all learn something from.

And so it's left to the zealots. The people at either end have little hope of moving the masses all the way to their end of the argument. Instead, what they do is make it feel safer to change the boundaries, safer to recalibrate the compromise. Over time, as the edges feel more palatable, the masses are more likely to be willing to edge their way closer to one edge or another. Successful zealots don't argue to win. They argue to move the goalposts and to make it appear sane to do so.

Now when you think religious extremists, what picture do you have?

I'll tell you:  Angry people protesting with banners condemning everyone around them to hell.  Or maybe angry people shouting "Death to America!" while waving their AK-47 in the air.

I'm telling you right now, I don't condone or support any of those behaviors.

But Jesus calls us to be zealots, to be extremists.  Absolutely not in a violent, angry, hateful way, but with Love.

We need to zealously love our neighbor.  Zealously care for our community.  We are called to show so much love to those around us that they begin to think we're crazy.

Imagine what would happen if Christians loved the world so much that the world started thinking we were crazy.  If we all lived so zealously for Christ that the rest of the world would stand up and take notice.

Imagine if we moved the goalposts so far into God's Love that the middle had no choice but to move in the same direction.

Let's get to it.


jj