Are we idealists or realists? A devotional thought.

I ran across a description of what made Napolean Bonaparte such a great leader. It was said that he was an idealist who was also an amazing realist. He coupled the two and in doing so, set himself apart from others of his era.

It reminded me of the introduction of E. Stanley Jones's book Is the Kingdom of God Realism. In the introduction, he talks of his encounters with a young lady in Russia, a Marxist. She asked him if he was an idealist or a realist. Jones wasn't quite ready for that query - he stumbled into admitting he was an idealist. The lady dismissed him; she was a realist, and anybody else who wasn't was hardly relevant to the struggle of contemporary society.

It got Jones to thinking. The Word became flesh! The greatest idea - or Idea! - of all had become flesh, or real, for all of us. The Kingdom of God WAS realism. Nothing could be more real.

James Sire wrote the worldview volume titled The Universe Next Door. In it, he said that the definition of the Really Real was the starting point for an understanding of anyone's world view. The really Real.

For us that is, of course, God - Father, Son and Holy Spirit. But we don't get to leave it at that - that God took on real human flesh.

It is said of the Athenians during the travels of Paul that they loved spending "their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas." (Acts 17:21) I am not sure a lower thing could be said of people interested in truth (particularly in a book titled ACTS!) But all too often that is what the local church is all about...sitting around, talking. Exchanging ideas. They are led by professors in seminaries who taught them doing the same thing.

In my seminary classes I want my students to hear this at least a dozen times: If you make disciples by sitting around and talking don't be surprised if your disciples sit around and talk.
Believe me, disciples like that are the ultimate in frustration for pastors around the world!

It is said that when the Word became flesh He went on the move in the real world...a world of lepers, demoniacs, hypocrites, the sexually abused and abusers, liars, cheats, murderers - a real world.

It is where we belong. To love, to heal, to redeem. That Word became flesh said, afterall, "Follow Me."