Christ knocks on our door.  That means that He comes to us–wherever our lane is, whatever our drive is, He walks down it.

If we live in Mouse Utopia, most people’s experience of the Christ will be extremely soft and gentle.  He will appear to them as an apostle to special snowflakes.  He will appear to them almost as a caricature of Himself, as the insipid figure of Mercy from A Canticle for Liebowitz.  Because He will make himself a fool for our sake, just as He expects us to do for His.

But the way He appears to them is not the way He is.  He is all things.  To others of us, He will appear in sterner, merrier guise.  Don’t be deceived into believing that the nature of the people and the society around you are a revelation of the final nature of the Christ.  The Living Water pours itself into what vessels it must, but it is not those vessels.

Yes, he is soft with those that need it, which is all of us at times.  But also, He laughs at me.  We have precious moments of cameraderie, brotherhood, of father and son.  There are tender mercies.  He also lets me taste His anger.  The word to me is sometimes, “shut up and soldier.”