A milestone has been reached. We get so few as adults, so it is nice when they happen. Paradox, the church Ruth and I have dedicated our time and money to, has reached its first birthday. It was a success, not only in numbers but we as a church had accomplished some of what we sought to do. So with the celebration still fresh on my mind I took the opportunity to reflect upon where my family and I were, not only spiritually, but emotionally, and relationally as well.
This past year has been a blessing, I am not going to ignore the hard times, we have had plenty. But our relationship, between Ruth and I, has grown stronger. We have have grown closer to God, and Kirsten is starting to learn who God is. My personal journey has me looking more deeply at this God/man we call Jesus. I am studying not only Jesus and his teachings but the culture in which he chose to live in. In my opinion, we can not know what Jesus is truly saying at times if we do not know who he was speaking to. I grew up in a church where I was told what to believe, and that it was ok to just come on Sundays and Wednesdays, get lectured to and go home with warm fuzzy feelings. I was also told that if I ran into hard times it was because I did something wrong and God was punishing me. What a crock of bull. Jesus told his disciples, including you and me, to follow him, but where did Christ go? To the cross. To his death. What makes us think that if we follow him we will not face the same. Every disciple met some grisly end. When Jesus predicted Peter's death he didn't want to accept it. As with most churches, that is too much, God is asking too much. I do my time. I witness. I sing in the choir. I read my Bible. Is that not enough. No. That is not what Jesus has called for us.
There is a movement, it has been around for a very long time, and not to many people walk it. Some call it the "Barbarian Way," others, "The Third Way." I call it simply "Jesus' Way." My trials exist cause I choose to walk this path. No more will I or my family sit in a pew and thank God for our "Fire Insurance" and go home feeling everything is good. To call myself a Christian yet not do what Jesus taught or said to do. Nor will you ever see me judge someone for their lifestyle or choices. We are here to serve, to love God, to love people. To walk the narrow path, the road less traveled.
God is moving and I am following as closely as I possibly can.
3 comments:
I am studying not only Jesus and his teachings but the culture in which he chose to live in.
Amen to that, as I'm trying to do the same. Something that has been sadly lacking in our churches.
Scott is lying. He is studying reruns of Alf but he likes to spiritualize it by calling it a "culture study."
(I know Scott--he can handle my teasing.)
Anyway, interesting post. I'm intrigued. However, I'm not sure what you mean by...
Nor will you ever see me judge someone for their lifestyle or choices.
I'm not looking for a debate. I'm just curious as to what you mean.
Also, I'm not sure why so many followers of Christ are put off by the idea of "Fire Insurance." Do we want it to be hard for people to get into heaven? Are we comfortable with the idea of God allowing people to go to hell? I know I'm not. Sure, I don't like the idea of someone saying they are a follower of Christ and then not (seemingly) doing anything about it--but I also don't want that person to spend eternity in hell. God knows that person's heart and what they really believe about Him. In my opinion, THIS is where we need to be careful when it comes to judging someone else.
We all say we don't believe in "works" to gain God's favor, but then we go and say things like this (i.e. "fire insurance"). It's just something that I've been thinking about for some time now. I can safely say that I've done a 180 degree turn on this issue in recent years--maybe I'll turn around again.
Nice blog.
Its hard to understand a person's position if you don't know them, and sometimes I'll spout stuff that makes sense to me, but it may not for others.
The church I was brought up in, did a lot of judging for peoples looks. (Dress, hair, tats, etc.) You would also never find someone who is openly homosexual in the church. Mainly cause they just would not be welcome. Back when I did not know any better I believed and thought the same thing. Today...
I had a gay friend who use to help me in the sound booth at my new church. I am just getting tired of Christians who just sit in their pews, and thats just okay to them. I believe it is a struggle of mine and one I need to work on, cause it is a mighty fine line to judging.
I totally agree with both of you. Not that I'm trying to make excuses for myself, but I think I still have a bit of bitterness in me, and Christians are easy to pick on. (The media does it all the time).
I don't want to see people go to hell, but God is using all his followers to spread the word, and most of us are just sitting. The "Fire Insurance," reference was just an easy way to lump them together. The traditional way of witnessing does not work, and if we would just take the time to truly try to understand Christ, communicating the "Good News," would not be that difficult to non-believers.
I have no idea if that helped explain anything and I was all over the place with my thoughts and for that I apologize.
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