Collision

March 16, 2024

She was young and perhaps a bit nervous, but she bravely soldiered through her speech and ended up doing a far better job than she imagined, in part by something she didn’t intend on saying. She included a quote from Paul’s letter to the Colossians, but it came out of her mouth as “Collisions.” Everyone got a good laugh from it, including her, but when she was done, I sought her out.

“You spoke more truth than you realized,” I said. So much modern Christianity has gotten in bed with the world, walking in such complete lockstep to a corrupt culture that other than some of the language we use and the fact that we get together to listen to speeches we call sermons, and songs we call hymns, it would be pretty hard to tell us apart from the average run -of-the-mill secularist.

We would be much better off if there were more collision and less collusion with the world. I hear people say they want to make an impact upon society, but we forget that there cannot be an impact without a collision. I’m not an aggressive kind of man; I prefer quietly getting along with others, but I often wonder to what extent I’ve sacrificed my integrity because I didn’t want to have a collision. The letter of Paul that we call Colossians is filled with words that are on a collision course with the world around us:

 

”So if you’re serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ, act like it. Pursue the things over which Christ presides. Don’t shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ—that’s where the action is. See things from his perspective. Your old life is dead. Your new life, which is your real life—even though invisible to spectators—is with Christ in God. He is your life. When Christ (your real life, remember) shows up again on this earth, you’ll show up, too—the real you, the glorious you. Meanwhile, be content with obscurity, like Christ. And that means killing off everything connected with that way of death: sexual promiscuity, impurity, lust, doing whatever you feel like whenever you feel like it, and grabbing whatever attracts your fancy. That’s a life shaped by things and feelings instead of by God. It’s because of this kind of thing that God is about to explode in anger. It wasn’t long ago that you were doing all that stuff and not knowing any better. But you know better now, so make sure it’s all gone for good: bad temper, irritability, meanness, profanity, dirty talk. So, chosen by God for this new life of love, dress in the wardrobe God picked out for you: compassion, kindness, humility, quiet strength, discipline. Be even-tempered, content with second place, quick to forgive an offense. Forgive as quickly and completely as the Master forgave you. And regardless of what else you put on, wear love. It’s your basic, all-purpose garment. Never be without it.“ —Colossians 3:1-8, 12-14 

If these words aren’t aiming for a head-on collision with the world, I don’t know what would be.