What does activist Christianity look like?

In the midst of this political season the question has come to me, "what does an active, engaged Christian really look like?" What is it that would define a real Christian to the guy on the street? Sad to say that right now the defining sign to a lost world is that we are hateful, judgemental, and narrow-minded. It's sad that we have wandered so far afield from what God has called us to do, from the exhortations of Jesus himself. Jesus said, "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."

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The call to action is love for one another. The commentary of the world should be, "Oh, they must be Christians." Sadly that's not where we are today in our culture. Love for one another is not the normative identity of the Christian, but it should be. What does an activist Christian look like? Here's a brief picture:

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Romans 12:20 On the contrary: "If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head."

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Do you notice that this call to arms doesn't mention getting involved in politics, protesting abortion clinics, forming political action committees, or any of a hundred other actions that we can do ourselves. Our call to arms demands that we do something we are not able to do on our own...love our enemies. This is a divine task, a supernatural call to live completely different from the world around us. Now, sadly, I must make a disclaimer because some will completely miss my point. I am NOT saying we should not be involved in our world, in politics, etc. I am saying that these things must be secondary to our call to love. If we are loving the world as Christ did I guarantee that many of the things we think make a difference wouldn't even be necessary.

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What does activist Christianity look like? It looks like Christ...loving a lost world with food, water, a smile and a hug. It's the love of God that will change the world, not our political efforts, our protests, our letters to the white house....etc. Let me simply challenge you to be a true activist Christian, as the bible describes it, and let's see what happens around us.