For a Christian to live prophetically it doesn’t mean they worry about picking the date Jesus is coming back; rather it means to live every day as if He’s coming back! Being prophetic means letting our lives bear prophetic witness to the age to come. We are to be an embodiment of the future. This is, in part, what we think Jesus was helping us think about when we pray, “Your Kingdom come.” Question: When others look at you, does it make them look forward to heaven? Why or why not?

John Caputo says, “Religion at its best is not a projection, but a projectile.”
What he means is, a projectile is out of our control. It’s something we cannot manipulate. So, rather than using our religion to bless the things we want it to bless, the projectile critiques our religion. It’s a word that comes from “outside” our system to challenge our assumptions and the way we live. This is, in essence, what Jesus did. He became a prophet, of sorts, that critiqued our system. Interestingly enough, he tended to critique the system and bless the individual rather than what we tend to do which is critique the individual and bless the system. Questions: How has the church either been directly guilty or implicit in the critiquing of the individual and not the system over the generations? Similarly, how have you either been directly guilty or implicit? Armed with this insight, how might you suggest we choose to live differently moving into the future?

One of the themes of Lauryn Hill’s song is the problem with looking down up on the poor and adopting a paternalistic attitude. It winds up not only demeaning the poor, but also demeaning us. The obvious truth is, we are no better off than anyone in any situation. Question: How could adopting the simple truth of that message help you and us as we move forward?

Of the action points listed, which could you work on in your own life?
-Curb paternal slant.
-Discipline yourself to give money away.

-Work on delaying gratification.