This kind of goes with my last post... maybe with my last few posts. So be sure to read those too...
This is what I'm currently learning and processing.
Christians (in America) often don’t live like Christians. Like REAL Christians, like Paul and Peter and James. Christians in America (including myself) still pursue the “American Dream” … which is comfortable, but not anywhere near where Christ’s heart is. I am reading this book right now that has some great points… “We are molding Jesus into our image. He is beginning to look a lot like us because, after all, that is whom we are most comfortable with... with the best of intentions, we have actually turned away from Jesus. We have in many areas blindly and unknowingly embraced values and ideas that are common in our culture but are antithetical to the gospel Jesus taught… Here we stand amid an American dream dominated by self-advancement, self-esteem, and self-sufficiency, by individualism, materialism, and universalism… we are settling for a Christianity that revolves around catering to ourselves when the central message of Christianity is actually about abandoning ourselves.” (that’s from a lot of different pages that I wrote quotes down from… from the book “Radical” by David Platt. PLEASE read it, it’s so good… I think I like it better than Shane Claiborne’s “The Irresistible Revolution” even, simply because it references the Bible all over).
That’s essentially what I’m currently in the process of learning. How to TRULY abandon myself and rely on faith. We are so comfortable with having Plan B… for instance, if I became dreadfully ill all of a sudden right this second and I was about to die, a plane would come get me and bring me to a hospital and I’d be fine, because of health insurance. It’s almost like, “Ok God, I’ll pray about this now, but if you don’t answer fast enough or how I want you to, I’ve got a back-up plan on the way!” And I’m not saying health insurance is bad. That’s just my example to kind of explain how we, as Americans, simply don’t NEED to live by faith. Because we have no needs. Here in Uganda, they understand faith so much more, simply because they’re constantly faced with sickness, death, and loss. Very early on, they’re forced to realize that they’re human and very finite. Realizing that allows one to truly experience that God is a Provider. That he is a Comforter. I recently wrote in my journal… “is the American limitation of risks actually a hindrance that makes it harder for us to experience God’s faithfulness fully?”
I will end this with this verse… James 1:27- “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”
We have no excuse not to pursue justice in this world. That's all I'm sayin.
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Excellent post, Brynn. You are such a gem. I am in total agreement with you. In fact I would go father than saying we have no excuse to not pursue justice, we are in fact condemned if we don't pursue justice.
ReplyDeleteExcellent post, Brynn. You are such a gem. I am in total agreement with you. In fact I would go father than saying we have no excuse to not pursue justice, we are in fact condemned if we don't pursue justice.
The question that then comes into my mind is "what is justice?" Is justice making sure everything is fair trade and giving blankets to the homeless? Do we, with our human brains, know what justice is? God could send every single human being to hell this second and it would be just.
We must be careful in talking about justice these days. The current social justice movement is terrifyingly void of Jesus. If we give people justice but don’t give them Jesus are we doing anything for their eternal soul? Is it possible that we are in pulling them further away from the revelation of Jesus?
What then is our mandate?
(by the way... this is Abi.) :)
Brynn,
ReplyDeleteAlways good to see you thinking and processing what God is teaching you. I wrote a blog this morning after listening to a sermon about giving thanks in all circumstances and have been thinking on suffering and perseverance lately, not because I am suffering in particular, but because our western incarnation of the gospel seems to teach that things should be easy and instant. Not the process that God has in mind for us. Similar to your understanding that our comfort isolates us from God's will and a life lived in faith, I would say that by not giving thanks for every circumstance that we face and through every challenge and blessing, we risk living a bland and fruitless life that dishonors the sacrifice of the holy and blameless Lamb of God. We are called to more than comfort and the American dream of the pursuit of happiness. We are called to sacrifice our self-love and self-worship so that God can be glorified and so that we can be made Holy in His strength.
You might enjoy the book "The God of the Oppressed" by James Cone. I
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