Just A Thought…
I was talking with a friend of mine about some struggles he has been having and as I was listening to him, something dawned on me that I never thought of before. It occurred to me that most of us believe that “religion” (defined as doing things because we’re supposed to and not really for Jesus) is something we struggle with because it has been inposed on us by others. It’s their fault. Religion is something someone else shoved on me.
But as I was listening I became aware of something in my heart that I believe may happen more than we realize: Religion isn’t something that is forced upon us. It’s something we choose. We take it as a taskmaster. Somewhere along the line someone defines Christian spirituality for us. Not every time they define it are they accurate…I know people who would say that spirituality means to dress a certain way or to celebrate or not celebrate certain days or to drink or eat or not drink or eat something specific. Obviously none of these things will bring you any closer to God (see here and here). But some times the definition we receive is actually accurate. It’s not something made up to make some people spiritual and some not. Where we cross the line into religion is when we decide to become that definition on our own strength, apart from God because we really want to be viewed as special and unique.
It;s at this point where we begin to strive for something apart from God that we cross over into religion, the worst kind of religion-self tyranny. We try to measure up to a standard and when we can’t we begin to judge ourselves worse than anyone else ever would. Because we don’t know we’re accepted by God and we think being accepted by spiritual people will help ease our pain, we do things that we were only designed to do by the enabling of God. The result is usually burn out and defeat. We swear we will never do that again…but honestly that depends on whether we really want to be accepted again badly enough.
I bring this all up to say that we need to stop pointing our fingers at others for bringing us into religion if we really wanted to go there ourselves in the first place. And those of us burned by religion need to admit to ourselves that the definition may not have been the problem as much our desire to go their on our own was the problem. In the end we (myself very much included) need to go back to the source of life (Jesus, the God-Man) and ask for His help to not remain where we are, but by His enabling and by His enabling only to journey after the deep things of God. Only then will we be truly satisfied.
Take what you want from that…they’re only thoughts…
“Tell A Little Story…Do A Little Miracle…”
We had an interesting conversation at house church on Sunday that has kept coming up in the midst of conversation. E.J. asked how Jesus would deal with homosexuals, since there really is no mention of homosexuals as individuals in the Gospels. Everyone gave some different opinions which were all good. But we got talking about how Jesus would spend most of His time hanging out in the houses of sinners who were so good at sinning that they had earned a reputation as sinners. I have no doubt that Jesus would eat a lot of meals with the homosexual community if He were here in the flesh.
It was at this point in the conversation that I mentioned Paul’s admonition to the church in 1 Corinthians 5:9-11. Here Paul tells the Corinthians not to associate with believers living immoral lifestyles but to do no such thing with unbelievers, because that would force us to leave the world completely. Rather, Paul, like Jesus, would encourage us to live among those people in such a way that draws unbelievers to Jesus. It was at this point I said that Jesus would sit around with sinners and “Tell a little story…do a little miracle…you know…the stuff that leads people to salvation…” It was just a funny statement that kinda described the totally practical and yet always supernatural ministry of Jesus among unbelievers.
Then on Monday I was talking with my good friend Sean about a grill out he’s planning on having at his apartment complex to get to know his neighbors. Sean was saying that the grill out would be a great way to start natural relationships that can lead to getting into other people’s lives. I piped up and said, “And once you get into their house and are hanging out you can “tell a little story…do a little miracle.” Sean’s response? “Oh that we were walking in that realm.”
So God is beginning to naturally spur us forward in evangelism. If we press Heaven and follow the Father, I think we will begin to “Here a few stories…and see a few miracles” because the Lord is intent on seeing lost souls turn to God.
(As a side note, pray for me. Tonight is the first night I’m having an unbeliever over to my house to build a relationship with him. This is a good step for us.)
Travis
50,000 Coaches
I’ve just been thinking about Akeelah and the Bee again lately. There is a powerful part of the movie where Dr. Laraby, Akeelah’s spiritual father of sorts, recognizes his weakness and backs out of her life. Akeelah looses all confidence in herself because her coach has walked away from her. It’s at this point that Akeelah’s mom turns to her and says, “You don’t need him, Akeelah, you have 50,000 coaches.” The next few scenes you begin to see people in Akeelah’s life who have been anything but helpful step up to the plate and help her learn 5,000 new words she will need to know for the National Spelling Bee.
This got me thinking about life. We all need spiritual fathers and mothers giving input into our lives. I think many times we underestimate how important they are in our lives. But I know a lot of young men who have no spiritual mentor and ache over the lack of true men of God who will pour into them. We must have spiritual parents, but we also cannot underestimate the 50,000 coaches we have around us. If you are part of any kind of spiritual community, you have 50,000 coaches that will train you for the days ahead. Don’t forget to be thankful for the 50,000 coaches the Lord has put in your life.
Cluster Map
Pursuing Glory 