Frustration with the world is inevitable. And by "the world" I mean the systems of the world, the way of the world, the ideas and ideals and methods and principles of the world. These things must cause us frustration - anger even - because they are opposed to the way of the Kingdom, and the Kingdom is opposed to them.

And it is surely vital to remember that the Church is not immune to the things of the world. We will find the world inside the Church. It shouldn't really be there, but alas, it is.

We must not take this frustration to heart, and I am speaking to myself here. It is normal and natural to be opposed, to be beaten down, to be dishonoured, to be rejected, by the system of the world. In fact, if we are not, then probably something is going very wrong with the way we are living.

Understand I am not referring to the "war on Christmas" or the "persecution of North American Christians" here. That's not what I mean. Maybe some folk have an agenda for that kind of thing, but they aren't really live issues.

I am talking about the way the world - and the world inside the Church - arranges itself without reference to God. With no final accountability. With a seeming freedom to treat people disposably. With a dependence upon the tools and practices of the enemy.

Let us not be discouraged by this, but accept that this will always happen to those who try to resist, to live alternatively, to be kingdom citizens in action and not just word and song.

(Not that I am claiming to be there in any kind of realised way yet.)