I imagine, since God is unbound by space-time limitations, his perception of time proceeds backwards from a Kingdom perfectly established into this moment we consider the “Now”. I propose that believers should look to the future for guidance on the present, to discover a reality breaking into today with a sweeping impact on thoughts, intentions and actions. Since the in-breaking of the Kingdom of God is inevitable, faithful disciples live a life radically directed towards God’s purpose in a union of Faith and Works that anticipates the divine vision. I imagine, Faith is God pulling us up with the rope of belief, while Works are our efforts to climb that same rope with good deeds. Both are expressions of the same reality, each sustaining and reinforcing the other. Likewise, the rope’s threads are strengthened by the discipleship that commissions our service in proclaiming, mediating and facilitating the divine project.
Our understanding of the concept of “Basileia” (both kingdom and authority in Greek) is vital. It determines our commitment to God’s purpose and the urgency with which we join his cause. There is no way around it. True Christians are engaged in Kingdom-making with attitudes and actions that promote the overarching goal they represent. An ideal starting point adopts Christ’s behavior and demands an emptying of self to be filled by his Spirit, putting aside our freedom on behalf of the welfare of others. While a lifetime isn’t enough to take on the character of our Leader, our charity testifies to the depth of our commitment. We personally usher in the Ancient Project of God when … we show mercy, do good to those who hate us, extend hospitality to those who can’t return it, give without expectation, forgive those who hurt us, oppose injustice in the community and joyfully assist the Last, the Lost and the Least.
Undoubtedly a mystery interweaves Faith and Works. Faith can’t be seen apart from Works, nor as a consequent reward. Faith can be seen in Works and in the suffering lifted from the shoulders of others. To put the sharpest point on it, if we wish to re-formulate our Faith, then it is on good deeds we must concentrate, without falling victims to social pressure and prejudice. The One Who Gives the Words of Life already showed the path of authentic discipleship in his radical concern for outsiders – those who eke out their existence on the margins of society.
Against the world’s exploitative, coercive and controlling system of relationships, true disciples represent hope for the marginalized and dispossessed who are unable to improve their lives. Through our charitable response, impelled and guided by the Spirit, we become Christ’s authorized agents to advance the most Ancient Project of God in this generation.
In a 1418 masterpiece that inspired many saints, the mystic monk Thomas Kempis wrote: "Without charity external work is of no value. However, anything done in charity, be it ever so small and trivial, is entirely fruitful, for God weighs the love with which a man acts rather than the deed itself. He does much, who loves much. He does well, who serves the common good rather than his own interests. What appears to be charity is often really vanity: for man's own inclination, his own will, his hope of reward, and his self-interest, are motives seldom absent. On the contrary, he who has true and perfect charity seeks self in nothing, but searches all things for the glory of God. He envies no man, because he desires no personal pleasure nor does he wish to rejoice in himself. Rather he desires the greater glory of God above all things. He ascribes to man nothing that is good, but attributes it entirely to God from whom all things proceed as from a fountain. If man had but a spark of true charity he would surely sense that all the things of earth are nothing but vanity.”
