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But we are not the first folks who have tried to be the center of the Vertical and Horizontal dimensions. Jesus Followers from the beginning of the Early Church sought to love God and neighbor in the midst of persecution and martyrdom. Remember, in the church of right now, we who are not suffering persecution are the minority. Like the first martyr, Stephen in Acts 7, they looked to the cross of Jesus and saw their life to be like His. They used this phrase: living the cruciform life. They wanted their lives to be in the shape/form of the cross.. Then, in the 1400s, we see the same idea in the book by Thomas a’ Kempis, “The Imitation of Christ.” He did not call Jesus Followers to withdraw from the world and the people living in it, but to reject the things of the world. It is those things of the world that promise you what you really need: security, acceptance and significance. Only God can truly meet those basic needs.

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