More and more claim they want a reformation in religion, a revolution in politics, a revival in church, a transformation in the neighborhood when all they really want is their neighbor to believe what they believe and act like they act, never having to be displaced themselves.
But change is inevitable.
When I was 12, I had to memorize the poem “The Blind Men and the Elephant” for a school competition. I’ve never forgotten it.
Six blind men describe with great certainty the mighty elephant, each touching only one part of it, never the whole animal. The one part they do experience and describe seems very accurate, but their overall conclusions about the whole elephant are wildly and laughably distorted. They assume their experience and viewpoint is the totality of the creature. No doubt, six religions were formed that day.
I call that Partial Truth. Truth frees us, but Partial Truth makes us prisoners to lopsided and distorted viewpoints and agendas of men and women, no matter how well intentioned, who believe their Partial Truth is The Whole Truth. Many sincere people believe and act like the one small part they have touched and described of the mystery of our ineffable (indescribable) and cosmic God is The Whole Truth about this God who is in love with all.
Then they try to propagate and package and sell it as His All Encompassing Truth. That’s how we end up with a nicely packaged God who is expected to perform according to our limited knowledge. We forget that, according to the Psalmist, God is in heaven and He does what He wants.
Most systems of the world—especially the religious ones—flourish on Partial Truth. It’s fatal to any system to let followers who have never touched more than the trunk, suddenly discover that there is a tail or an ear or a tusk. Or that there might even be an amazing creature far greater than anyone has ever imagined.
Before you keep exploring a relational, supernatural Kingdom of God that has been freely offered to ALL and a King of a Kingdom who really loves ALL, count the costs. You may find yourself labeled as the enemy, or a heretic. And when your religious system no longer has use for you, you may find yourself shunned and shamed for daring to believe there is more than the tail the denomination or political party or economic system is peddling. This is particularly ugly in our religious systems because here it is done in the name of the One who has come to set all free. (History does not lie.)
The poem ends telling us that the six blind men “fought loud and long, stiff and strong” to advance their particular view of the elephant. Make you think of anything happening in certain circles today? If it does, the poem’s ending should be taken to heart:
“…each was partly in the right,
And all were in the wrong!”
Love has never been a mass movement. Never.
So be wary of those who say they represent the Kingdom of God but do not carry God’s DNA, which is always about love. Always!
No matter what you call yourself — an Ambassador of the Kingdom of God, a Parish Priest, a Kingdom Carrier, or whatever the trendy term is for the year or decade, your credential for that position will always be that you have been impregnated by the Seed of God and carry His DNA.
Don’t get caught up in causes and opinions in the name of Jesus. The base line of a Kingdom of God transformation is “I love you!” with the desire to love your neighbor and do him good with no other agenda. None! That’s Agape.
So get a hunger to hang out with those teaching love. It’s the foundation of the Kingdom of God.
And if the Kingdom of God is anything — and it is everything — it’s relational, supernaturally relational based upon a foundation of love.
