Lunatic Fringe

Quickly becoming a Farlow favorite is the Greek word hupernikao. And by favorite in farlow world means it is moving ever so closely to becoming a tattoo! Well truthfully, this word has been a favorite for some time now, but just recently we have truly begun to step into its meaning and live it out.

Hupernikao - Greek for "more than conquerors" Paul uses it in Romans 8.37. It introduces three verses that I find to be some of the most passionate, exciting and life giving verses - verses that make the hairs on the back of my neck stand up, verses that make my blood rage, verses that get me dancing and shouting AMEN brother preach it! Verses that expose the drama unfolding before each of us - GOD - Father Son and Holy Spirit - loves us so insanely that nothing - yes, nothing - can separate us from Him.  Just makes me tingly all over! 

Now let me be honest, I wish I could say I do not have any doubts nor can I say that I have this relentless faith that never wavers, but even in writing this, I am reminded that the faith I speak about, the faith I have is rooted not in my being, but (thankfully) the being of Jesus Christ. We can only be hupernikao through the crazy insane love of Jesus; a love that is beyond anything we could ever imagine.  It is a love I want so badly to live within but honestly, so often I am afraid to live it out.  I wrestle in my flesh because my bones burn to be a lunatic for the One who the worlds sees as a raving lunatic.  I want to stand upon the edge of sanity and shout out "here am I—a faithful and obedient servant of Christ—nothing can separate me from the love source that glistens upon my soul while drenching my heart with a love so insane!"

           

In his second letter to the Corinthians, Paul writes that we (the Church) are called to be "ministers of reconciliation." Why not let this be the truth of today? Don't let Satan fool you, our human response to what God has done on our behalf can and will change the world! God so desires us to participate in His reconciliatory performance. The God who is for us and with us in Jesus Christ wants us, by the Spirit's power and presence, to be for and with one another. 

And so I stop—I look all around me and ponder, do I, do we, even understand what it means to live for Christ? Am I willing to be persecuted, even put to death for my faith? What if today I started to live out the hope of tomorrow? What if we (the Church) lived out the hope of heaven (the not yet) in the midst of the reality of earth here and now? What if we stepped to the edge of the lunatic fringe and jumped into the insane love of Jesus?! 

Lunatic Fringe - we all know you're out there 

Can you feel the resistance? 

Can you feel the thunder?