Two Ways of Being Different by Richard Bauckham

“There are two ways of being different: one is to focus on drawing boundaries between us and them, and that’s the route to sectarian withdrawal. The other way to be different is to focus not on the boundaries but on the centre, that is, on Jesus. The stronger our commitment to that centre the greater can be our openness to others. The more that from that centre we live out what it means to belong to Jesus, the more others will be drawn to the attraction and the challenge they can see in the way of Jesus as we live it. Similarly our involvement with others can be sustained from our belonging to Jesus. It will be an expression of Jesus’ love, which would fail were it simply to fall in with the values and objectives of the world, but which can really reach out to others, really come alongside them, really be where they need us to be only when our faithfulness to the strong centre of our lives in Jesus enables it.” —Richard Bauckham

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