Man of Action ...

Freitag, Sept 28, 2012. Are you more a “man of action”, someone who initiates things, someone who solves problems? Or are you a calmer type of guy, who does his work, but stays more on a normal level of activity. What is is that we head for? Do we make the world a better place? And how do we do it?

Heros, Leaders and Saviors …

What is the way to make the world a better place? You might reply: do we need to do that at all? But many of us feel that it IS needed, there are just too many bad things happening every day. There is death, illness, corruption. There is fraud, injustice and harassment.

So we need to make progress. Our film industry is addressing that point when they produce one action movie after another … with a hero who saves the world in each of these. We love to see people in action, we love to see leaders who do their job and help to improve our world. Is that the solution?

Let us think about what the world needs. What will solve our problems, when it comes to the economy? What will solve our problems with respect to hunger and difficult social structures in many parts of the globe? What will solve our problems when it comes to power and corruption? What is a good solution?

Jesus' Approach …

Jesus' approach is different from the approach of the action heros which our movie industry generates. He was a man of action, indeed. But that was not his main point and that is not the crucial step of saving the world. His path to the cross, his weakness, his death, is as important as the other components of his life. Salvation needs a transformation of our hearts and our minds!

As long as humans are as they are, the world will remain a difficult place. Wars have always happened - they grow out of ignorance and the quest for power. Humans are weak, they tend to fail, and if failures accumulate, problems are bound to grow. But in the middle of all of this there is hope. In the middle of this world, a new kingdom grows. It is a kingdom of justice, of tenderness, of love and trust. Jesus called it “my kingdom” or “the kingdom of heaven”.

We might be men of action, but a special kind of action is needed. We need the trust in the Lord. We need actions which arise from this trust. We need to enter the kingdom of heaven, here and now, through faith in Jesus. Then, there is hope, and perspective beyond difficulties and death. The action we need is faith. A man of true action is a man of faith. (Roland Potthast) ... more texts