With Thanksgiving being tomorrow, smells of cinnamon and pumpkin seem to filter through the air. Grocery shopping is being finished and recipes are being resurrected from last year's arsenal. As I type this my stomach is already growling in preparation for Thursday's feast. (Or maybe it has something to do with the fact that I haven't yet eaten today...)
But then there's a cloud hanging above our heads. And probably over yours too, if you live in America. One of the calmest, family-oriented holidays morphs into a brutal, sometimes even deadly quest for inexpensive merchandise called Black Friday. Stores are opening in the wee hours of Friday morning (and some even the latter hours of Thursday night) to make way for the thousands of sleep-deprived frugal monsters that will be mobbing their way in. Is that really what we've come to? Has a pure holiday been cast out by a vicious shopping day?
Unfortunately, I think that's what's happened. While everybody loves a good hearty Thanksgiving meal, nobody gets anywhere near as excited for Thanksgiving as they do for Black Friday. While this isn't the most perfect metaphor that I'm trying to make... it seems like this is what's happening to all good and pure things.
You've got something - Thanksgiving - that's been going on for ages. It's a good holiday, born from good intentions. If you do any amount of earnest research on November's holiday, you'll find that the "First Thanksgiving" was a celebration of pilgrims who fled England due to controlling church authorities. The pilgrims were refugees of a sort - they came to America, my home country, for God. They ached to worship God freely. They had been injured by religion over and over again, and so they left England not for the sake of "freedom of religion" as so many will argue; instead, they left to find freedom from religion.
Religion, my friends, has been killing souls for a long, long time. Jesus didn't come to this Earth and die so that we could live under a "righteous" dogma or breathe the polluted air of a doctrine. He came that the gap that sin built might be bridged to form a perfect relationship with God. You can lift your hands in worship and memorize Scripture all the days of your life and still not have a relationship with Christ.
As I look inside my very own church, I see so few Christians; they are eclipsed by Churchgoers. If your Sunday morning service is Thanksgiving, then the football game that afternoon is Black Friday. You scarf down your meal - the filling of your spirit - in angst, longing for the good deal the next day. But what happens after Black Friday? Are you even thankful for the bargains you found? You may have a mountain of shopping bags surrounding you but you can't eat them. Toys and clothes and electronics can't fill you or eliminate your hunger.
And that's how we've gone on to live our lives - we want the cheap thrill of Black Friday. How much can we get for $20? What's the least amount of money, of effort, that we can put into something and still get a good reward? This life that we live is nothing more than emptiness. Tell me, does a movie satisfy the stomach? Does a stuffed animal quench your thirst? No, only the Bread of Life satisfies the stomach. Only the Water of Life quenches thirst.
Over the past few years especially, I have seen Thanksgiving turn into a preamble for Black Friday. "What are you thankful for?" someone at your table may ask. I hope with all my heart that you say "The freedom and love of Christ; the freedom to choose who I worship and how I do so" instead of "Good deals on Black Friday".
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Thursday, November 17, 2011
And the Word Came with Power = a must read.
And when they had prayed, the place where they had gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God with boldness.
~ Acts 4:31 (NASB)
Several nights ago, I was physically exhausted but mentally wide awake. Can you relate? I wanted so badly to get to sleep so that I could wake up early the next morning and get the day going. But for some reason, no matter how hard I tried, sleep just would not come.
Within the past month or two, I had purchased a book called And the Word Came with Power. The book is the firsthand account of an American missionary to a remote Filipino village.
Thinking that I would only read a chapter or two, I picked up the 176 page book and began to read it. At first I felt the writing was mediocre and somewhat choppy, but the more I read... the better it seemed to get. Since I had just a few minutes earlier asked God to romance my heart, I thought that maybe this book would be the answer to my prayer. I was right.
Since I have a burden for a place full of spiritual darkness and hostility towards Christianity, this book especially ministered to me. The incredible stories of deliverance and healing are beautiful. Joanne Shetler began her journey in the hopes of translating the Bible into the language of the Balangao people. As she learned to trust God and came to value the family of Christ, God opened doors and softened the hearts of the people.
Ordinarily I would give you an in-depth analysis of this book and go into a whole bunch of theological whatnot. But this time... I'm just going to leave it at this: read this book. Even though I was dead tired, I stayed up until 3am reading this book. I literally read it cover to cover. I didn't get up to go to the bathroom or get water or anything. I just read it straight through. And that is something that rarely happens.
... The word of God is not imprisoned.
~ 2 Timothy 2:9 (NASB)
Saturday, November 5, 2011
The Travesty of the Spiritual Couch Potatoes
My fingers have spent hours tapping away on my keyboard, trying to squeeze out a blog entry. Since my last post on October 15th, God has moved so fantastically in my life. My eyes have been opened to a world I always knew existed but failed to live in; I had merely visited.
The change has been so overwhelming that I literally can't put it into words and still do it justice. It is something that must be experienced firsthand - which is why so few believe in it, and thus fail to live it. Though it seems pessimistic, in this post I'm going to be talking about the most common Christian failure.
As I've written before, until I was about 8 or 9 my family went to a Baptist church. Since then, we've gone to a church that could easily be called non-denominational. It's got aspects of many denominations, but has never truly fit inside the box of a particular one - and that's something that it loves. Anyone can walk into our church and fit in.
I didn't open this post today to bash my church, which it may sound like I'm about to do. But I promise you that I am not. I'm heavily involved in my church and I love being there. However, there are several things that I would change if given the chance, one of them being this: my church's focus is to evangelize. It loves to welcome new people to the faith. Every weekend (and every Wednesday too!) I see dozens of people giving their lives to Christ. For that, my church is a wonderful one. I typically always love the sermons, and tend to agree with my pastor's theology. But there's something missing. It seems like it lacks that next step, for people who are already into their walk with God and ready for some revolutionary stuff to happen. I'm one of those people.
For that, most churches (mine included) suggest that you check out one of their home small groups. My parents belong to two of those groups. But where do I fit in? I don't. My church doesn't have a small group program for serious, devoted teens. And that's something I would like to change. Where is the serious Christianity for the teenagers? My age certainly isn't looked down upon at my church, but it's not glorified either. But anyways. That's starting to get off topic.
I think my point is that this is where so many churches fail Christians. The church's focus is on getting people inside their building, converting them, and letting them leave. But what about the people who are already there? What about the people who desire something more than for their hand to be raised one time and be done with things? This is the failure of the church.
Instead of focusing almost solely on converting people as if they're sheep to be sheared, the church should spend a lot of time and devote a lot of energy into equipping its existing members. What good is a church body of 5 million if only 50 of its members go out and heal the sick or help the needy?
Churches spend a lot of time focusing on organizing mission trips, which are great. Don't get me wrong. But step outside. Look at your neighbors. I can guarantee you that at least one of them has something in their life that you can fix. Why are we not helping them, our very own neighbors? How is Guatemala or Burma any different that your very own street? People are in need of something every single place you look. If you live with someone, I'd bet that they've got something you could help them with. If you're a Christian, you have power in the name of Jesus, granted to us by the Father, delivered to us by the Holy Spirit to pray over sick people and heal them. If you've got the Holy Spirit, you are able to prophesy to people. Through Him you can speak in tongues or preach or see into the spiritual realm. Those things are very real. Yet we live as if the only healers are doctors with drugs, the only prophets are those that died during Bible times, the only tongues are Russian and Chinese, the only preachers are those in the pulpit, and the only seers are those committed to mental institutions.
One song by Casting Crowns comes to mind. Listen to this song and read the lyrics. Open up your heart and let it stab you.
This is a burden of mine. I ache for the dying church. If Christianity were to go on forever exactly as it is right now, we would not be changing the world. We would merely be existing within it. And that, my readers, is a problem. Christians shouldn't be spiritual couch potatoes.
That's one thing that God has shown me so clearly in the past few weeks. The body is dying. We are almost all failing to live life inside the body. This is why Christians are so often called hypocrites. Because we are. If you actually read the Bible, you'll see some of God's explicitly clear commands. But where are they being carried out? So few people actually live the Christian life that God designed.
The majority of the Christian church as it is right now is a living but dying travesty. At its best the mainstream church mocks what Christians once were and should still be. I don't know about you, but I don't want to be a breathing travesty.
Jesus did not die on the cross for us to be travesties. So what are you going to do about that?
The change has been so overwhelming that I literally can't put it into words and still do it justice. It is something that must be experienced firsthand - which is why so few believe in it, and thus fail to live it. Though it seems pessimistic, in this post I'm going to be talking about the most common Christian failure.
As I've written before, until I was about 8 or 9 my family went to a Baptist church. Since then, we've gone to a church that could easily be called non-denominational. It's got aspects of many denominations, but has never truly fit inside the box of a particular one - and that's something that it loves. Anyone can walk into our church and fit in.
I didn't open this post today to bash my church, which it may sound like I'm about to do. But I promise you that I am not. I'm heavily involved in my church and I love being there. However, there are several things that I would change if given the chance, one of them being this: my church's focus is to evangelize. It loves to welcome new people to the faith. Every weekend (and every Wednesday too!) I see dozens of people giving their lives to Christ. For that, my church is a wonderful one. I typically always love the sermons, and tend to agree with my pastor's theology. But there's something missing. It seems like it lacks that next step, for people who are already into their walk with God and ready for some revolutionary stuff to happen. I'm one of those people.
For that, most churches (mine included) suggest that you check out one of their home small groups. My parents belong to two of those groups. But where do I fit in? I don't. My church doesn't have a small group program for serious, devoted teens. And that's something I would like to change. Where is the serious Christianity for the teenagers? My age certainly isn't looked down upon at my church, but it's not glorified either. But anyways. That's starting to get off topic.
I think my point is that this is where so many churches fail Christians. The church's focus is on getting people inside their building, converting them, and letting them leave. But what about the people who are already there? What about the people who desire something more than for their hand to be raised one time and be done with things? This is the failure of the church.
Instead of focusing almost solely on converting people as if they're sheep to be sheared, the church should spend a lot of time and devote a lot of energy into equipping its existing members. What good is a church body of 5 million if only 50 of its members go out and heal the sick or help the needy?
Churches spend a lot of time focusing on organizing mission trips, which are great. Don't get me wrong. But step outside. Look at your neighbors. I can guarantee you that at least one of them has something in their life that you can fix. Why are we not helping them, our very own neighbors? How is Guatemala or Burma any different that your very own street? People are in need of something every single place you look. If you live with someone, I'd bet that they've got something you could help them with. If you're a Christian, you have power in the name of Jesus, granted to us by the Father, delivered to us by the Holy Spirit to pray over sick people and heal them. If you've got the Holy Spirit, you are able to prophesy to people. Through Him you can speak in tongues or preach or see into the spiritual realm. Those things are very real. Yet we live as if the only healers are doctors with drugs, the only prophets are those that died during Bible times, the only tongues are Russian and Chinese, the only preachers are those in the pulpit, and the only seers are those committed to mental institutions.
One song by Casting Crowns comes to mind. Listen to this song and read the lyrics. Open up your heart and let it stab you.
This is a burden of mine. I ache for the dying church. If Christianity were to go on forever exactly as it is right now, we would not be changing the world. We would merely be existing within it. And that, my readers, is a problem. Christians shouldn't be spiritual couch potatoes.
That's one thing that God has shown me so clearly in the past few weeks. The body is dying. We are almost all failing to live life inside the body. This is why Christians are so often called hypocrites. Because we are. If you actually read the Bible, you'll see some of God's explicitly clear commands. But where are they being carried out? So few people actually live the Christian life that God designed.
The majority of the Christian church as it is right now is a living but dying travesty. At its best the mainstream church mocks what Christians once were and should still be. I don't know about you, but I don't want to be a breathing travesty.
Jesus did not die on the cross for us to be travesties. So what are you going to do about that?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)