Go...baptize...teach

“Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

It would be good for us to keep this at the focal point of our lives…profound statement I know. Keeping the Holiness of our Father in focus would do great lengths of good in our lives in the area of humility…but what about the second part? May God’s Will be done on earth as it is in heaven? How do we accomplish this?

Over the past month or so I’ve taken a deep interest in how the world views Christianity. I’ve been reading a few different books that are a bit depressing in the reality that is shown in the world view towards those who call themselves followers of Christ. In keeping “God’s Will being done on earth as it is in heaven” at the focal point of our lives, I have to ask how we are going about doing that.

From what I can tell, we as Christians (on the whole), have looked to politics in order to bring God’s Will to earth…as it is in heaven. There are some groups within Christianity that would banish all “sinners” from our country using the law if at all possible. I won’t list off a lot of the laws that would possibly be put in place because I don’t want to get too bogged down on this but I do want to make a quick point. I am not saying that those laws (whichever ones you might be thinking of) would be inherently bad to have around; I just want to get to a deeper issue.

Why do we have laws in this country? Isn’t it understood that it is wrong to murder, steal, commit adultery, etc.? At some point pride sets in and you begin to want what you want when you want it and take what is not yours: life, stuff, spouses, etc. Does imposing more laws changes someone’s pride/selfishness? I’ve yet to see it.

For centuries, in order to become a Christian, you had to be “Romanized,” meaning that you had to become civilized before encountering God’s Grace through Christ. It seems backwards to me…why are we still taking this approach? I think Jesus lays it out well for us in Matthew 28:19-20, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.”

I think the approach Jesus would take to “God’s Will being done on earth” would be to change the heart of people. It doesn’t seem as though Jesus got offended much by the “sinners” surrounding Him. He felt compassion for them and went straight for their heart. Let’s start introducing people to Jesus, change their hearts, and then teach them His ways.