Jesus Town

Years ago when I lived in England, I went out on a date with a fella from Granada who took me to a restaurant in London’s Chinatown. May I just say, my memory of that evening, and its confluence of cultures, can be best described as “Toto, we’re not in Kansas anymore.”

The cultural differences between my date and I were enough to keep the night interesting, but Chinatown was an experience in and of itself. We ate in the round at a table shared with ten random strangers as, apparently, was tradition. We ate food I’d never heard of (even after all those visits to China Buffet. Shocking, I know.) Upon entering Chinatown, before we had even gotten to the restaurant, I knew I was walking into another world.

This week, we gals at the Daily Fast Fuel are sharing what we know, for sure, about followers of Christ and "The World" we all live in. It is with my London Chinatown experience in mind that I come to share with you my ponderings. Two things:

One, this world is another world. This world is not Jesus’ kingdom. No. If it was, it would look terribly different. Jesus said so himself: “My kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36). God DID create this world, but for the time being it is under, shall we say, different management (John 14:30). Which leads me to my second pondering about this world…

The more we know of Jesus and the more we absorb him into our very hearts and lives, the more we are able to authentically bring His kingdom into this world….even if it’s just a small neighborhood tucked into a little corner of the world. We can call it “Jesustown”.

If our hearts know Him… really know, serve and love Him, then Jesustown will be less like the “China Buffet” sampling of culture, and more like the real deal.

If we make Jesustown as close to the real deal as we can, those who walk into it will feel as though they are entering another world. And the world they experience will be a foretaste of the Kingdom to come.

Ya'll ready for a night out on the town?