IF JESUS IS THE ANSWER...WHAT'S THE QUESTION?
We are about to present the hardest hitting Easter Play that I have ever been involved with... and as we are preparing the final lighting cues and sound variations it is hard not to be completely blown away by the pain that this play presents. the characters in this play are in such deep pain that it is impossible not to grieve and cry with them.Three Characters who are each deeply hurting are brought through time to the greatest moment in human history. When the God of all creation is cruelly nailed to a piece of wood and hung between heaven and earth. And what he did to answer the destruction that the world is loading onto people.
So...what do you think? If Christ the answer to all the garbage that happens in a persons life why don't people accept it? Why is it that people who seeming are deeply in pain run to the pain rather than running to the relief? Is it because intrinsic in the call of God for freedom is the understanding that God is asking for everything in our lives not just a part?
I was traveling through town yesterday and had the opportunity to talk to two young people who clearly were hurting. Further they clearly had known Jesus at one time in their lives. (He said he and attended a church in Abbottsford) When I mentioned about the play and invited them to come their response blew my mind. "That's great pastor Dave" they said, "We really do need a little salvation in our lives right now..." How does one received a little salvation? How does one receive enough of God to save your soul but not your purpose for living? How can the God of all there ever was or will be...be confined to the small box of salvation? And even within that box we say " a little salvation?"
Is it possible that it is the lack of commitment within our culture that removes Christ from being the God that we so desperately need him to be? Is it possible he's just waiting for us? Is it possible that God is not at all interested in how we feel about him...or how the world views us? Is it possible that God is expecting us to live and die for him and he does not give a rip about how we feel about it? Is it possible that God is more concerned about what is right, proper, and good then what is acceptable to us? I need a little salvation...they said. I am beginning to think that nothing is more offensive to God then that...But hey...what do I know?
“The world has yet to see what God can do with a man fully consecrated to him. By God’s help, I aim to be that man.” Dwight L Moody
God and God Alone...is fit to take the universes throne....and mine.
4 comments:
I guess the reality is not that he is calling us to give everything, but everything is already his. That's and interesting comment "a little salvation". It's weird to me, explaining the idea of God to a non-believer, do you think he could be as much involved in their lives as he is in ours. It's odd to stand at a point of arrogant confidence saying, "this is how God is", in reality I have no idea. I know what the Bible says, and I believe we can understand Jesus and glimpses of the kingdom, but how often have you thought God was saying something to you, and it clearly turned out to be you. The challenge for me right now is not to embrace an emperical measure of the knowledge of God, but to embrace the mystery. Rationalizing seems not to fit within the metaphysical realm. This seems illogical to a modern society, and perhaps this is part of the reason people don't accept Jesus when they clearly need something. Could we be "black and whiting" a grey God, making certainties out of speculation. Jesus is real, but what can we really hold beyond his forgivness. Maybe that's why people don't embrace Him. Possibly an inaccurate presentation. I can't help but think about the Jews and the Pharisee's, God's people, who seem to have so much missed the point of Jesus. Could we be doing the same? (note: this is a thought that was processed as I wrote this so it is clearly opened for revision)
Wow...are you ever right about the difficulty of explaining God to an unbeliever...
I'm not sure about the black, white, grey or purple God...it just seems to me like no matter how much we try people are just empty...trying to be satisfied for a moment.
You said..."Could we be "black and whiting" a grey God, making certainties out of speculation. Jesus is real, but what can we really hold beyond his forgivness. Maybe that's why people don't embrace Him."
I think we don't embrace him not because he is not what we make him out to be but because we are not who we make ourselves out to be...
No one is in need...just ask them and they will tell you..."I'm not in need." but as Jesus said... give a cup of cold water in the name of the Lord and we all change...
I think I agree. When I mentioned the "black and whiting" of the grey God it refers not to all issues, but surface issues that often deter people from openess to the gospel. I do believe that we can hold to Jesus, black issue, Jesus is the way.
Love God, Love Neighbors is what he commands, but these statements are rather opened, grey if you will. So we find flexibility within our living. The guideline is not "don't do _______ because it is wrong", but do everything out of love. Love for God love for man.
It seems that we live in a horizon of grey in the landscape of the believer, with a focal point of black, as we start with Jesus.
ok...I'll give you that one.
I'm just so thankful that God is not subject to the latest gallop poll to determine his performance acceptance or my personal approval rating. Because then we would be in deep trouble indeed.
So black and white it is...
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