Revolutions are not safe. By their very nature they call for change - change from something and change to something. And change can be scary. It is a process which tends to distance us from a phrase which will become something of an enemy throughout the course of this article. That phrase is "The Status Quo".
Ugh. How I hate it. The thing about the status quo is that it draws everyone back to one standard called Normal. It implores them to remain stationary, not looking for change but content in the ordinary. It is the enemy of progress. When the status quo rules the roost, I'll tell you this: the times aren't a'changing.
The force for change is a powerful pull at the core of humanity. It wrestles constantly with the opposing force of comfort, which pulls our flesh like a homing beacon back to the status quo. Sometimes resisting the status quo takes a bit of gumption, and sometimes - well, sometimes you just have to rebel against it.
Rebels have a bit of a bad reputation due to their tendency to be annoying and destroy things. But it seems sometimes that the force for change is stronger in those wanting to wreck society than in those bent on building it. Maybe now is the time for us to reclaim the rebel spirit for good and become rebels with a cause.
Nothing is going to change if we don't break out of our boxes of prescribed behaviour and be outliers. Society is always going to tell us to be normal, or to be different in the same way as everyone else is (hipsters, I'm speaking to you). But it is not about being different for different's sake, it's about the cause for which we have all been called. It has got to be about Jesus.
How do you start a revolution? By being a revolution. Being a revolution means you have to bring change. Commit to colouring outside of the lines sometimes. Live with a rebelation, a revelation which leads to a change in behaviour – a reason to defy normal.
Rebelling with a burning passion for good and not for evil, for others and not for self is the way to revolutionise our lives. If together we eschew the status quo in favour of the Cause for which Christ gave his life we can start a rebelution – a rogue army of rebels walking the straight and narrow, living willing to die for something bigger than themselves.
No more of this tepid neutrality! Lukewarm is no longer the flavour of the day. It can start with something as small as a gift to a stranger, and go as far as that extra mile will take you. But it cannot be about us. It has to be about others, about preferring our neighbour over ourselves, giving recklessly and watching God fill the need, being strong about standing up for the weak. Living as Jesus did – he ruffled feathers for all the right reasons.
I don't know what you want to be when you grow up but I want to be a rebel with a cause. A revolutionary with a rebelation that starts a rebelution. Are you with me?
Grace Mathew is a Sydney-based writer who enjoys the dangerous art of thinking.
Grace Mathew's previous articles may be viewed at
www.pressserviceinternational.org/grace-mathew.html