Really enjoying Beauty Will Save the World by Brian Zahnd.
Published via Pressgram
A few recent highlights:
our first allegiance must be to the kingdom of Christ. Furthermore, we must never make the mistake of thinking God has some kind of commitment to the well-being of our particular nation over the well-being of other nations. This type of ugly and arrogant nationalism is completely incompatible with the Christian faith, which confesses Jesus as Savior of the world and not merely some version of a national deity.
What Jesus is committed to is the salvation of the world and the building up of his global church. So whereas Christians are free to participate in the civic and political process of their respective nations, Christians must do so as those who exhibit a primary allegiance to the Jesus way—the beautiful way of the cruciform. This means treating everyone (including political enemies) with kindness, love, and respect.
With an eye on the cruciform, we can ask ourselves, “Does this attitude, this approach, this action look like Jesus on the cross?†If our attitude, approach, and action cannot be reasonably compared to the image of the cruciform, we need to abandon it. Caesar may adopt it, it may be practical, it may even be “successful,†but if it’s not Christlike, then it’s not our pattern.
