Being different ...

Friday, July 18, 2014. What type of world do you want to live in? Perhaps that is a futile question - you might think, since we live in the world as it is and that is it? But that might not be completely true, as many philosophers have realized long ago: the world is what is is going to be - it is shaped by us, by our decisions. It is not something completely fixed!

What we want and need …

There are many people in this world, who are longing for justice, for truth, for good living circumstances, for security and health. We have our dreams and desires, we want to find a partner, love, community, acknowledgement. We want to be useful for the community. There are many deep desires in our nature.

But we also know that there is a lot of fight - about ressources, about acknowledgement, about the things we need to live. Who is in control of what is a key question which is important on many layers of our life and our society.

The world is even more diverse - that is an important insight. Even if we would have a perfectly ordered world, there would be those who do not like it, and they would try to break out or to destroy the order, just for changing it. We have those who are adventurous, who want to go into the unknown, who are longing for change, and for progress …

Jesus invitation to life …

Jesus gives us an invitation to life. It is a life with him - shaped by the creator of this planet, of the whole universe. He knows humans, with all their desires. He knows us with all the dark parts of our soul. And he offers us a way to find true life, which fits to our deepest desires, but which does not follow the dark parts, but follows the light.

Reading in the Gospel of John, we listen to Jesus when he talks about “not being from this world”. He has overcome the world - and we are called to be different. He offers a life which by its core is based on trust. It is by its core based on love, on truth, and on acknowledgement. Faith is another word for this type of trust, which turns to the Lord and puts our life into his hands. He is the source of love, of parenthood, of responsibility - he is even all of this by himself, being father, son and holy spirit.

There are sometimes days when you feel great joy - the joy of knowing him, the joy of the hope and perspective he gives. To me, today is such a day, and I am so happy about his invitation to life. I know that he is the Lord, and that the community with him and his children is great and will be continuing joy. And I am confident that he will be there with ideas, with support and with guidance, for all what I do, today and tomorrow. Thank you, Lord! (Roland Potthast) ... more texts