Saturday, April 16, 2011

Bump Him

I was talking with someone who shared a story about a pastor of a large church who had a time each week for the staff members to play basketball. It was sort've an unrequired required ritual.

Any time a new staff person would come in, this pastor would instruct other staff members to 'bump him'. In other words, foul him, agitate him, foul him again. The point was that the pastor wanted to see what spilled out when he got bumped. Was it Grace? Retalliation? Quit? The idea was that what was on the inside, would only come out noticably under pressure.

From time to time, this pastor would take it upon himself that if he knew a staff member was stressed or struggling or out of balance, he would bump him, himself to see what poured out.

It's no coincidence that Jesus tends to have a Bump Him strategy as well. Jesus indicted pharisees about cleaning the outside of their cup while the inside festered with mold and filth from neglect.

It's not about polishing your image. It's about redeeming your heart.

So maybe God's been bumping you lately so that what is on the inside will become known on the outside, so that the cross of Christ can do its magnificent work.

The terrifying thing is that the further down inside we bury the secrets, the shame, the despised things, the wicked things...the harder the bumps will be.

And the One that is doing the bumping is the one who is showing me that the Foul is on (and in) me.

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