Unleashed…to turn the world upside down!
This year’s theme for spiritual formation at Point University is one word: Unleashed. And the tag line to help define that word is “to turn the world upside down.”
The Bible is filled with imagery about our human condition apart from the gospel, but it might be fair to simply say that without Christ, we are “tied up” to all sorts of things and need to be unleashed. In an interesting little comment in Acts 17, one of the city leaders of Thessalonica, upon hearing that Paul and his missionary friends were coming to their town, said, “These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also.” (17:6, ESV)
Just think about that. A pagan city official has heard about the transforming nature of the Christian gospel and the best phrase he can use to explain it has to do with the gospel turning the world upside down! What if the community of faith known as Point University – on all of its campuses and in all of its communities – gained a reputation of “turning our communities upside down!”
Unleashed . . . to turn the world upside down. If there is a consistent idea among the American public this year – regardless of political affiliation – it might simply be that “something’s not right.” That “something” is expressing itself in more ways that we can count and while not wanting to be too simplistic – the absolute fact it that Jesus alone is the answer to our angst about terrorism, racism, the economy, the cost of education, the election, and any other issue that might be the cause of our frustrations about life right now.
But many of us haven’t discovered the radical, biblical Jesus who was fully engaged in the world in which He lived, aware of its needs, and willing to take risks in order to meet those needs. A quick look at texts like Matthew 9:35-38 would suggest that He saw the challenges as opportunities – and a part of “God’s harvest.” When we begin to look at the world as an opportunity and become a part of it like Jesus did, our prayer for laborers in the harvest are likely to be answered by our own response to the gospel.
That’s how the world gets turned upside down!
At every Link this summer the idea of Unleashed has been introduced as a part of the worship service that kicks off activities. At Convocation on Wednesday, 10 August, at 8:30 a.m. at Spring Road Christian Church, President Collins will challenge our entire Point family to commit ourselves to being Unleashed . . . so God can use us to turn the world upside down.
Will you join me in praying that our new academic year will be marked with a greater level of commitment to following the radical, biblical Jesus than ever before?
-Wye Huxford, Vice President of Spiritual Formation