A highway for God

In the fullness of time, God sent His Son.

That fullness of time had many dimensions. The story of sin had to have been properly internalized by people, especially the people that God chose to use as His channel of revelation to the world. Without a well developed concept of sin, Calvary would have had limited meaning to anyone.

The centuries preceding the birth of Christ and His ultimate death on the tree, were also essential to His credentials - He had a profound pedigree, dating back thousands of years and including some of the greatest people that ever walked the earth.

There was also a practical reason. God knew that Calvary would hold little relevance to the world unless its implications could be communicated to the world, efficiently. So God waited until the Roman roads and a universal (Greek) language were established and then used those channels of communication to spread the Word. To help move things along, He also timed things to coincide with the sacking of Jerusalem, so that interrelated Jewish and Christian ideas could spread across the globe.

We have a new highway today. The greatest highway ever built is an electronic highway that runs around the earth right into the homes of billions of people of diverse cultures, credes and languages. It uses a common idiom (if not a common language), it is the uniting force of a new, connected culture and it is a fast, efficient medium for broadcasting rich content to everyone.

I am a great advocate of the Internet, but I think the church is still quite awkward about its potency and reach. I daily see very poor examples of communication from God's people, a people with so much good to say and do, so little time to say and do it in and yet with so many people to reach.

God is very strategic in His nature, always doing things with the long term in mind. I have no doubt that He would strongly advocate a strategic approach to this powerful channel, for the Kingdom's sake. However, despite some nasty areas in the Web, I also find that the Web community has a refreshing approach to community that is reminiscent of early biblical times.

In those days light also shone in the darkness and where sin abounded, grace did the much more abound. For as it is now, so it was then that believers had to thrive in the midst of a pagan and unbelieving culture.

The Internet is also wonderfully big-hearted. It is collaborative and generous in trading knowledge, ideas and things, largely for free. There is so much in the Web of such great value, that I am an avid fan. What other channel could enable me to reach you, wherever you are, almost as quickly as it took me to write or say what you are now reading. Yet in the spirit of the Internet what you have now received came to you free, gratis, without conditions, just because that is how things work here.

So, if I am to advise you on marketing your writing, let me start by saying "GET CONNECTED". Find out all you can about this great channel, log onto blogger.com and get on the bus for free and lets start talking to this brave new world of ours.

(c) Peter Eleazar at www.bethelstone.com