BE CONSPICUOUS - The Warrior's Journey®
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BE CONSPICUOUS

Author: David Causey, USA (Ret.)

Army Secretary visits Fort Benning. Photo by The U.S. Army is licensed under CC By 2.0

On March 25, 2020, the UPI reported that a new concert hall in Al Ula, Saudi Arabia, won the Guinness award for being “the largest mirrored building.”  Now, when I say “mirrored,” I mean that the outside of this building is one gigantic four-sided mirror – 31,855 square feet of mirror.  The name of the building is Maraya, the Arabic word for “reflection,” or simply “mirror.”

Self-Reflection

The concert hall seats 500 persons and will serve as a venue for performances, business conferences, and other events.  It is located in a scenic area, surrounded by canyon walls.  The site is near Mada’in Saleh where there is a UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) World Heritage Site.

Now, when you look at this building, the first thing that strikes you is that it almost looks invisible.  This is because it reflects everything around it – the desert, the canyon walls, and the sky.  It camouflages itself with the images that surround it.

When I viewed the pictures of the Maraya mirror building, it reminded me of something.  Its ability to “blend in” with its surroundings is similar to Christian believers who merely reflect the world around them, rather than reflecting Jesus Christ.  They make their witness invisible and take no stand for the radical message of the Gospel.

Mission Essential

As people walk up to this building they only see a reflection of themselves.  It’s like having a person in front of you who agrees with everything you say – to the point of weirdness.  Christians who agree with everything in the world around him have forgotten God’s warning in the Bible, “…friendship with the world is hostility toward God…” (James 4:4).  God calls us to be different from the world, to shine as stars against the night.  He wants us to be a light in the darkness, peace in turmoil, and love in the midst of hate.

Dr. Martin Luther King once said that God has not called the church to merely be a thermometer, which only reflects the current climate.  He called the church to be a thermostat, which sets the climate.  Even so, Jesus said that we are the light of the world and the salt of the earth (Matthew 5:13-16).  He wants us to be a force for good and for righteousness in the world.  He calls us to be conspicuous and to take our stand for Jesus.

PRAYER

Search me, O God, and confront me with my sins of looking and behaving too much like the world.  Cleanse my heart and fill me with Your Holy Spirit.  Dear Father, please empower me to take my stand for the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and to be His witness both by my words and deeds.  Amen.


Photos:
-Below (Information from)
-https://www.flickr.com/photos/soldiersmediacenter/48625934988/

(Information from: https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2020/03/25/Concert-hall-dubbed-worlds-largest-mirrored-building/5861585160304/?sl=13; https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/news/commercial/2020/3/completely-mirrored-building-in-saudi-arabian-desert-breaks-record-612470/)

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