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God is on the Move at Harvard – and in our World

God is on the Move at Harvard – and in our World

Last updated on: April 6, 2023 at 5:00 am by Shaunti Feldhahn

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God is on the Move at Harvard – and in our World 2023-04-05T15:30:39-04:00 Shaunti Feldhahn

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A call for unity and love among the Body of Christ

It wasn’t planned. But in talk after talk, God brought the same theme forward: The deep, vital need for unity and love in the Body of Christ. The need to let nothing hinder the light of Christ in these shadowlands. The need to respond to the challenges of our day in love and action, but never in fear, harshness, or a quest for power to “make things right.”

As several speakers emphasized, it is tempting to look at the challenges, injustices, and deeply disturbing problems of today and feel like the only answer is to fight back, even if we have to use harsh methods to do it. But we cannot use worldly methods to accomplish the aims of Jesus. We cannot become that which we hate in order to build what we love.

We have to love. And that includes loving one another even when we sharply disagree. Yes, there are vitally important things worth fighting for today – and sincere followers of Jesus may find themselves championing opposing solutions as they walk out the words of Micah 6:8. “What does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” But as one speaker put it, doing Micah 6:8 in a way that honors God requires placing those three things in the reverse order: To be humble, first. To recognize that we will not be 100% right, 100% of the time. To be willing to listen to our opponents. And then to be firmly committed, always and only, to methods of kindness and love as we pursue justice – those things that matter to us.

As Bob Goff once put it on social media, that space where we are most tempted to be snarky or angry instead of loving, “Love does not dishonor others. The way we treat the people we disagree with the most, is a report card on our faith.”

The gathering of hundreds of Christians at Harvard last weekend is only part of what God is doing in our world – just one visible and amazing example of His hand at work. Over and over again, unplanned, Isaiah 43:19 was referenced: “See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.”

I wrote about this conference this week to encourage you with this one thought: In all the challenges you see in front of you, and in this culture: You can trust our God. He is working. As The Chronicles of Narnia put it, “Aslan is on the move.” So let us all work with His ways, as loving, vibrant examples of Jesus, and be a part of what He is doing in the world.

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