Peter was shown in a series of visions that there is no such thing as "unclean" when it comes to people. No one we should stay away from. No one who deserves to be on the outside. These definitions, these lines in the sand are human constructs of human kingdoms designed to hoard resources and protect power. These things get in the way of God's kingdom and His purposes. How can we love our neighbor if we can't reach him/her for our own possessions, our own fences, our own borders? What is getting in the way of this most basic and central command...to love one another as God loves us?
We have worked hard and continue to work hard to exclude and define one another. We like definitions and boundaries. In the health care debate is the haves versus the have nots. In commerce it is frequently the business owners versus the employees. In immigration it is the "illegals" versus the "legals." It Alabama's gubernatorial election it is the Spanish versus English. It is our way versus their way. The problem is there will always be an us and a them until we follow God's call to Love. Love doesn't enforce boundaries and differences...it breaks them down. Our worth is not in what we own or what others don't own. It's not in how much power "we" have and how much power "they" don't have. Our worth is only measured by how much God loves us...and he doesn't love any one of us any more than anyone else...or another way...he loves us so much, that any distinction just doesn't matter.
So how do we know what we love and what we are actually worshiping? How do we know if we have "drunk the Koolaid of this world's message, or bought the true message of faith of our God?" From Revelation 21: "It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life."
Drinking from the water of this world is like drinking from a mirage, because that's all it is. The water of this world is the stuff we are taught is important from birth to death by the institutions of this world...not God. We learn from the earliest age that we are supposed to please everyone. Please our parents, please our teachers, live up to standards that we aren't supposed to question. We aren't supposed to question, just to obey and live up to someone else's standards. Where the hell did these standards come from? Not from love...not from God! We have to throw all that crap to the wind because it's not real. Approval from others isn't worth anything. We have to follow the path of love, build the real kingdom of love...nothing more...nothing less. The real water that quenches our thirst isn't worldly...it's heavenly. It's real life...real living to live a life of Love...called by God...called by Christ to live a life like Him. It is a life of asking, seeking, searching and loving...but it is not a life that checks in with everyone else before stepping out in faith and adventure.
We have to throw out our politics and replace it with the politics of Love. We have to throw out our economics and replace it with an economic system based on loving God and loving one another. We have to throw out all our selfish motives and rules in our relationships and adopt only the rule of Love.
It's not about what we put first. It's not even about priorities. It's about context and perspective. Ours has to change. If we have priorities, then we put something first, then move onto something else second, etc... That kind of hierarchy doesn't fit in when we talk about the Kingdom of God. You don't put the Kingdom on a priority list. You don't put love on a priority list. Love is not Job 1...it is the ONLY job, the only priority on the list, it is an either/or. That's what Jesus was saying when he said you can't serve two masters. We only have an either/or choice. We choose to serve Him...to serve the embodiment of Love...follow the path of Love in every case, in every part of our lives...or we choose to follow something else. No priorities...just a choice...a life long choice that has eternal and forever implications for you, for your family, for your money, your politics, your religion, for everything. If what you think you have done up until now doesn't have that kind of far reaching effect, then you haven't realized that you are only giving lip service to the idea of following a path of Love, the path of God. This choice is pervasive. This choice is eternal. This choice is fundamental.
That's why some of us have to completely start over. A house built on the wrong foundation won't stand. No matter what you do to it, unless you rebuild the foundation, you cannot strengthen the house. It will fall. That's why it's not a sad thing to tear down everything and start over. Like a surgeon going in and cutting you open...it's going to hurt, there will be pain...but there is life in that pain...there is love in all that temporary destruction...there is healing in those hands that wield such a seemingly dangerous instrument. Let God cut away, dissect us, strip us down, and build us back up the right way. Let us lay down our lives and yield to His hand. That is the only way we will truly live.
