I spent some time this morning trying to find some Christian blogs out there that would be interesting. Found a couple of particular blogs that seem promising, but I have to admit I was not overly impressed with the outlook of many. I guess that says more about me than them. It's kind of like Christian music for me, it is hard to find things that reallly make me think about my relationship with Jesus and how I live my life. There are many songs that are emotional and I am all for that, but there seems to be an almost total dearth of songs that really challenge people. Jason Upton does this, sings about real stuff and how we are with it, at least for me he does. Kind of like sermons in churches, it seems we like to make ourselves feel better and all and we don't want to offend anyone, but it is hard to find folks who will lay it on the line and call it like it is. Which brings me to my point: why are Christians afraid to think about and be challenged by what we say we believe?
It appears to me that the "Christian" church, or thought process or whatever you want to call it, has become, well, pretty worldly. We want Jesus to approve of what we want instead of trying to do the deep digging into our lives to see why we do what we do, and maybe find that place that will bring us to change in ourselves. Just like I want Jesus to approve of my point of view here, maybe I need to actually READ His word and seek HIM before I make proclamations about the state of the church. (Actually, I have and feel like I am on pretty safe ground here).
Living in Haiti, being on the mission field, I felt I would see the best the Christian church has to offer to the world. Alas, I find that, like me, the people here are.......people. They have the same quirks and such that I have, some not so bad......some maybe worse (at least I tell myself that so I feel better!) But it makes me think, because I didn't encounter what I thought I would, my expectations were not met......so I had to challenge myself. Maybe I expected too much......CHECK! Maybe I didn't do my homework about missions the way I should have......CHECK! Maybe the things I see are not so much a problem with everyone else (though I am pretty sure some of it is) as much as a challenge to me to root out what I really think about this Jesus guy and what He means to me. It seems to me that more and more that I am getting changed much more than those around me.
Which, in a roundabout way, is what I am talking about. It seems the church has lost much of it's ability to look at itself, for Christians to look at ourselves, and judge ourselves in relation to God's word and His Spirit. NO, I do not mean that our lives must be filled with works to earn our stripes. What I mean is that our lives should not be white washed coffins, looking good on the outside and filled with dead bones on the inside. It seems we are so into comfortable that we forget that God's spirit is an agent for change in our lives. We have accepted the saving part....."thank you God for saving me from my sins....now pardon me for missing church while I go play softball, or have a few drinks with my buddies.....again". And no, I do not mean that missing church anytime is a grievous sin. I think the point is not hard to get. We take the gift of forgiveness and live in it, instead of letting it be a starting point of growth. Try to talk about discipleship and you'll get a lot of rolling eyes and people changing subjects. We are already saved, right? Yes, but to whose purpose?
Big finish now. It seems we have taken the forgiveness God has offered us..and used it for our purposes instead of His purposes. It is easy for us to think of the past, and be grateful for the forgiveness of our past sins, or think of the future and how we will serve God someday.....but for today we seem to lack the ability (or fail to choose) to serve Him now. We fail to work out our salvation today....and I'm pretty sure we're suppose to, or else God wouldn't have put it in His word. SO, as soon as I have it worked out, I will let you know. Just in case someone else is working on it too, if you get there first, let me know, ok? :)
[the opinions offered here are often self serving and out of touch with the world, and many find them highly offensive. Thank you]
Djebenis tout moun
forgiveness
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