The Tipping Point

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Some years ago, I read Malcolm Gladwell's book, The Tipping Point.  He gives example after example of how products and ideas have found a "tipping point" that led them to huge success and/or exposure.  In many ways, the ministry of Jesus was that way.  It only lasted for 3 years but seemed to build epidemic following. Gladwell would identify this phenomenon as contagious - one that led to an epidemic that has lasted through the centuries.

When I ask myself how we, as people of faith, might find our own tipping point, I admittedly feel discouraged.  Why?  Because everywhere I look - at the fundamentalists or the liberals and everyone in between - I fail to see contagion around the message of Jesus.  I fail to see a message that is spreading in epidemic proportions in a short period of time. I fail to see what Gladwell would call translation.  In short, I fail to see Christians living a life that others would want and would find life-changing. 

In a world where racism, name calling, suspicion, violence and hate are contagious on a regular basis, the message of Jesus is incredibly relevant but has not been contagious.  Why is that?  Perhaps, as those who follow Jesus, we need to seriously consider whether our lives reflect the life of Jesus enough that we become part of the tipping point. We have been called . . . so who will we be?

Here's to tipping . . .