Here is my first attempt at writing an article after a long hiatus. I was going to send this as an email to some friends, but decided to put it on here when it became too large for the ADHD among us.
This past Sunday was fairly enlightening. For once both the singles group time and the main message time had some great truths to ponder.
During our small group time we discussed Luke 18:9-14, which concerns the story of the Pharisee and the tax collector. The question was: Which are we like? Are we self-righteous, legalistic, entitlement focused people or do we view ourselves as wretched, not deserving of God’s grace, humbled people?
The pastor then went on to speak about the two greatest commandments (Matthew 22:34-40). He made several good points. One was that the command to love our neighbors as ourselves is the first great commission. My question is: How can we “'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind”, if we believe in our hearts that our works are what truly make us righteous?
I mentioned during our small group time that I had been re-reading ‘Shattered Dreams’ by Larry Crabb. If you’ve never read any of his books I would encourage you to do so. God has truly gifted this man with insight into the human condition, in the light of Jesus Christ. In short, I first read this book when I was going through another trial several years ago. It has helped me to come to a bit of an understanding of my situation now, though I’m definitely still struggling.
Here’s an excerpt I read last night:
“We Christians are often practicing Buddhists. We kill desire in an effort to escape pain, then wonder why we don’t enjoy God.”
I’ve found it true in my own life. I desperately want to run as fast and far from any pain or trials and enter back into happier times. I miss being more naive about life, people & Jesus Christ. I want to be blissfully ignorant, but this notion is foolish because there is no going back and besides this isn’t the path to true joy.
Dr. Crabb references the book of Ruth throughout his book; in particular he focuses on Naomi, especially her despair. He goes on, after the above quote, to reference Ruth 1:20-21 in which Naomi tells her relatives and friends back in Judah to call her Mara, which means bitterness, instead of Naomi, which means pleasantness. She lost her husband and two sons and she wants everyone to know how she feels.
Here’s another excerpt:
“Imagine a missionary woman coming back from the field talking like that. No church would invite her to speak at its mission’s conference. We prefer stories of hope in sorrow and victory in trial.”
“Isn’t that what Jesus makes available? “Don’t let your hearts be troubled,” He told His disciples.”
“What did Jesus mean? Is He telling us to pretend we feel what we should feel when our most deeply experienced emotions are quite the opposite? Are we to admit our troubled feelings only to ourselves and God, while telling others that God’s presence and promises are real to us when they’re not? Is Jesus agreeing with Buddha in prescribing a form of contentment that requires us to cut off the nerve endings of our souls and to report peace when what we feel is a void? Is He teaching that if we trust Him, we’ll feel no pain?”
If you think about the above questions Dr. Crabb asks, in light of scripture, you’ll know the real answers. I’ve admitted to my own form of Buddhist paganism at times, as I try to run away from pain or dull it. How often I’ve heard certain folks misquote the ‘guard your heart’ mantra with regards to dating. Funny how this also seems to spill over into our relationships with friends, family and even God. I don’t know if anyone reading this has a misunderstanding of this biblical reference, however, just in case I’d like to address it just the same. Proverbs 4 & Philippians 4:6-7 both refer to this concept of guarding your hearts, however neither verses refer to relationships with people. If you really read these verses you will see that they are referring to guarding our hearts against sin. Philippians 4:6&7 states “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” The verses in Proverbs refer to guarding against what we expose ourselves to and what we allow to come out of our mouths, for we can be tempted and misled by what we see and hear and defile ourselves by what we say.
“You cannot love both God and money” neither can we reshape God into what we want Him to be. “He is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow” and His holiness is beyond our understanding. Before we become the defiant Joab’s of our time, who toss aside the king’s commands because we disagree with them or know a better way, let each of us inquire of God directly in the name of Jesus Christ in prayer and let us look at His word, which has been fulfilled in Jesus Christ. The more we understand God the easier it will be to obey Him. However, for now we are still required at times to obey God without understanding His big picture for “His thoughts are not our thoughts”.
2 comments:
I sometimes wonder if my 'deeply felt emotions' of contentment and peace have much more to do with my relative ease-of-life, than the peace that passes understanding. My peace often seams downright reasonable. In a truly painful situation, would I have that peace, or would my faith prove to be a house of cards, as Lewis writes in "A Grief Observed". As your quotes explore the paradox of feeling most deeply opposite emotions to that which Christ means for us to feel, so there is a there are impostor emotions that we attribute to Christ, which are found out to be thoroughly worldly when put to the test.
I would encourage you to read this book 'Shattered Dreams' by Larry Crabb. It's really a testimonial of the truths he's learned while going through deep personal tragedy. It's offered me some answers, or perhaps it has only offered more questions to ponder. Either way I feel it is pointing in the right direction, Jesus Christ.
Regarding your faith, unfortunately given the very conditional wicked nature of our hearts, our faith will always be a house of cards. I haven't read that particular C.S. Lewis book, though I will, but I'm assuming he's referring to faith in self rather then in God.
I have a belief that several pagan themes have crept into the church. I intend to write more articles on it at some point. I do believe certain aspects of Buddhism have crept into the church. I also believe many people only want to hear of victory in others. We are all so darn afraid of admitting our emotional limitations. We hide behind humor, work, drugs, pornography and other masks and vices as a means of running away.
Why do so many of us feel uncomfortable hearing the woes and despair of others? Why do so many of us feel uncomfortable in nursing homes, around the homeless, at funerals? Because we don't want to admit we're really that weak. I believe this is why we only want to hear of victory after trials. We're living in a fantasy land, especially here in the American church. None of us are the rocks we claim to be. There is only one rock we can rely on.
We have to admit that as Peter did, we are sinking in the water. If one of Christ's own apostles, who went on to do great things for His kingdom, didn't have enough faith, how can we? Peter obviously had faith, but I believe the answer to this question can only be found in real brokenness before Christ. It was only when Peter became like a little child (as Christ indicated was necessary to enter His kingdom) and admitted his own weakness that Jesus saved him. Yes he was chastised for his lack of faith, but only because Jesus wants us to know His peace and joy. The point is Peter was saved because of his child like faith in Jesus and we all need to get to this point before we can ever hope to understand the peace and joy we were created to know.
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