American Christianity

Recently, I listened to Paul Washer's message on American Christianity. It is, I believe, our default mode when truth is heard, to turn around and want to share it. This is a good and natural thing, but what is not natural is to carefully evaluate our own life first in light of it. In the world and some churches today, Jesus Christ is seen only as the ticket to a better life and heaven and we become the ticket sellers. If this is the case, once you have your ticket and your place in heaven is reserved, you can live any way you feel until the show starts. Jesus said "wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it." (Matthew 7:13-14) How much does the way we live our lives portray an image of a small gate but with the broad road to destruction beyond? In other words, we hold out Jesus as the only way to eternal life for people, yet live our lives in a manner indistinguishable from everybody else, comparing our holiness to one another instead of the Bible. It is a sobering thought to consider if my life is flavored with radical saltiness and shines with the radical light of Jesus Christ, or if, for the sake of my own comfort, convenience, tolerance, or acceptance, I have lulled someone toward an eternal hell.

Humility

I read CJ Mahaney's little book on humility while in Montana and have once again been reminded of how central humility must be and how prideful my tendencies are. I heard someone once compare an examination of humility in our live to be like peeling an onion. You peel off one layer, only to find another and another. I can think I am humble because I don't boast about myself, but do I think like a humbly person? I can think humbly of myself but take pride in my humility, so am I really humble? It seems like the deeper I dig, pride will always turn up in one form or another. If this is not proof of my total depravity, I don't know what is. I must constantly be reminded of this or else I will forget that my only hope for anything good to come out of me is in God's sovereign grace over my life. When I forget this, it become a constant struggle to avoid sin and an adherence to religion takes the place of adherence to God. My joy becomes based on my good works or situation and not God's work for me. As has been pointed out before, my greatest enemy is indeed John Paul.

God's Gift of Friends

On this glorious occasion of a wedding, it reminds me of how thankful I am to be blessed enough to know such people. Second only to God's gift of Himself through Jesus Christ, I am most glad for the His gift of His people to me. It would indeed be a lonely, hard road to walk through this life without the joy and happiness that can be found when people gather together who have a mutual affection and passion for Jesus Christ and who can worship and celebrate together all the good thing He has given us. It is moments like this that make life worth living and the trail and heart-aches of this world more than worth bearing by getting a foretaste of things to come after this life. "I can only imagine."

The Faith of the "Better Season"

I have been away from my church for a few weeks and during this time I have had the chance to hear from some other Christians who hold a different view of God. As always, it provided refreshing insight into my own set ways and beliefs. The underlying current that struck me was the idea that God will bless you for following him. The implication is that if you are not being blessed, than it is God's judgement. Christ becomes just the ticket to the show, a way to prosperity and heaven.

To our human minds it all seems to make sense, God blesses the good and curses the bad. Close your eyes for the moment it even seems right, but open you eyes and look around at the pain filled lives of real people and you have to stop short. Bad things continue to happen to good people.

How can I tell a grieving mother with her only son in the grave yard that God only wants joy and happiness on earth for her. Will the idea that there is always a "better season" to come if she just has faith, sustain her in her loss? No wonder people are walking out of church. The propriety gospel sounds good when life is easy, and on the surface, it is hard to find anything wrong with what is said. What is so terribly wrong, is what is left unsaid. The focus becomes on our actions and not on God. Pride in our deeds takes hold, our faith becomes shallow and Jesus pointless. If there is no spiritual deadness, than there is no necessity for a bloody sacrifice. If Jesus wants everyone to go to heaven, why hasn't God the father got the word? If I just acknowledge God, everything will work itself out, so there is no reason to lay down my life, just a Christ laid down His for me. My only hope becomes worldly success in order to have any outward sign of God's favor towards me and if that is my hope, I might as well die.

Rather, let me hear about a God that blows my mind, one that I cannot get my head around. Let me run to him and lay down every earthly ambition for His glory. Give me a bloody cross as my banner to carry into the fight and to plant on every hill as my proof of God's love. And if necessary, make my life a living hell so that no one might say that God only loves those whom He blesses with earthly gains.

Turning A Battle Ship

I heard Kevin DeYoung give his talk on “Just Do Something” some months ago and have just now read his book by the same title. His points during the talk were simple and the book is small and therefore contains very little that I had not heard previously. Still, it was a good reminder and as often happens, you see things in a slightly new light the second time.

In both his book and talk, DeYoung makes the simple argument that there is no “Will of God” for our lives beyond what He has commanded through the Bible. St. Augustine put it this way: “Love God, and do what you want”, meaning; as long as it is not sinful, whatever you want to do is part of the will of God for your life. A lot fall under the “love God” part and we must seek for the wisdom, which He has promised to give us, in order to judge our own motives, even if what we want is not inherently sinful. The aim is to encourage Christians, especially young guys like me, to stop wasting their lives by tinkering around, blaming their apathy on a search for God’s Will or calling.

As friend once told me, “Just as it is impossible to turn a battle ship that is dead in the water, so you must be moving forward in order for God to direct your life.”

Why Not College?

With a free ride to college on the GI Bill, why not go to college? So many people have to struggle and work hard just to have enough money for a college degree, it would be crazy for me to pass on such an opportunity. I am still sitting the fence somewhat on the issue, but here are the advantages of a college education as I see them and the reasons I have chosen not to seek a degree. (At least not right now.)

First, a college level education is require in order to hold many jobs such as a doctor or a lawyer. I am not interested in this type of career. A second reason is that statistically, college graduates get better jobs and make more money that people who have not attended. Again, this tends to apply mostly to the administration type jobs in the big city that I wish to avoid and making the most money I possibly can is not on my t0-do list. Third advantage I see in having a college degree, is that it is easier to get hired. While this may be true as a whole, I know quite a few college graduates who are finding it difficult to get hired. From my own limited experience, I have found that being willing to work hard at whatever you do, can carry you just as far in the job world as a piece of paper saying you have acually completed something in your life.

Other ideas that I have either heard or read have helped to reinforce my decision to put off college for now. The are so many people who get a degree for one thing and end up finding out they hate that kind of work so they do something else. There seems to be this idea in our culture that you will never be successful unless you have been to college. Part of it comes from those people back in the day who wanted to send there kids to college just so that they would have an easier life. How many time have we heard, "you don't want to end up doing ______ all you life do you?" as a threat if we don't go to college. Now days, college seem to be more of a thing you must suffer through in order to get a job that will pay you the most for doing the least amount of real work. Just look around and you will see that the most successful and happy people are not the ones with the "good jobs", but the guys who are not afraid of getting their hands dirty and who have a healthy dose of common sense and personal ingenuity. Our culture tends to ridicule the painters, plumbers, carpenters, mechanics and other manual labor jobs as being inferior. However, as we as a culture become educated to the point of forgetting how (or just becoming to lazy) to change the oil in a car or unstop a clogged toilet, these are the people who will continue to happily thrive at their jobs.

Perfect Fulfillment

I do not know if it is exclusive to certain people, just a guy thing, or what, but there is this drive I have for perfect fulfillment in everything. I am thankful for this or else I would end up a penniless sluggard for lack of doing anything, but I also envy the person who can take what they have and be content. For me, broken things have to be fixed, old things have to be repaired, and no matter what I have, I always want to improve upon it. My sense of fulfillment in life becomes tied up in accomplishing these things. This may appear on the outside as a good gift, but in it are the roots of many evils. Nothing is every perfect in this sinful, fallen world. No matter how new something is, it will eventually break, and more likely sooner than later. Even non-material things like relationships are always shot full of problems. The danger is that I will give to much time and effort to these things and never be happy or that the sense of how endless this work is will take hold and push me into despairing. Like everything in life, there is a delicate balance we must keep in order to avoid the extremes at either end. For me this means knowing when enough is enough and keeping in my mind the things that transcend this world with it's numerous imperfections.