Living Life Baldly

Cory over at Bald Man Blogging has a thought-provoking post about unity in the body of Christ, and the necessity to be open (bald, so to speak) with one another in order to achieve true unity. Here's a little taste:

Unity will not result from chatting about OSU football over brownies and Diet Cokes. It will not result from watching Alias or sharing meals in each other's homes. It will not result from serving together. It will not result from any of these alone.

The missing ingredient in all these activities - good and important though they are - is an intentional opening up of our lives. You can be with people 24-7, but if you never open up your life, if you never take off the toupee or take a gentle tug at the other person's toupee; none of that time will matter one bit.

He asks some good questions about what we're willing to do as Christians in order to really be real with one another. Life is messy, it's hard and we all live out God's commands imperfectly. But most of us Christians would prefer not to be faced with our own imperfections, and we really have a hard time dealing with the hard questions that life forces us to ask. Instead, we close our eyes and murmer a few platitudes about having faith, and try not to see the pain and the mess. Maybe we feel like if we allow ourselves (and each other) to ask the hard questions, our faith will be shaken. Maybe nothing will survive of what we have built.

I know this much. If God is who He says He is, then what we have built is irrelevant. We have to be willing to lay down our lives on His altar and let him take it all - including the altar. What rises from the ashes of our lives is what is eternal; what God has put within us.

I said all that to say this: Go see Cory and read the rest.