When you hear the word "Christian" what pops into your mind? I find it crazy how broad of a range of thoughts come to mind from this word. To some we think of Ned Flanders from the Simpsons and his great quotes such as, "Ok, boys, when you meet Jesus, be sure to call Him Mr. Christ." or "Now let us upload the holy Tweet of the Lord." or "No one comes back as anything, except for Jesus as bread, and that's it." Others might think of the guy on the corner of every event that requires a stadium with a sign that says "Turn or Burn" or of the people protesting soldiers funerals. Or we might take a completely different approach and think about christian books, christian movies, christian t.v., christian music or christian bumper stickers.
It amazes me what some people define as "christian" or what is even more amazing is what people call "not christian"
This makes me wonder, does putting the word "christian" in front of something automatically make it good? Does calling something christian make it godly? Does it make something evil if the most vocal christians are against it?
Let's think about this... In Isaiah 1:18 God says, "Come now, let us reason together..." You mean God wants us to reason, to think things through, to come to conclusions that make sense?
What is it that makes one thing secular and something else sanctified? As I think about this from a stand point of reason, it must have something to do with how it is used. For example, if I listen to a "christian" CD I am drawn to God, but when I listen to a "secular" CD I'm not. Right? So what happens if I am listening to a song by Simple Plan such as...
What happens if I'm listening to that song and find myself being drawn to God? What if, instead of being so focused on removing ourselves from the world, we were to start meeting God in the world we are in?
"Do you ever feel like breaking down?
Do you ever feel out of place?
Like somehow you just don't belong
And no one understands you
Do you ever wanna runaway?
Do you lock yourself in your room?
With the radio on turned up so loud
That no one hears you screaming"
Then I remember Jesus, who knows what it is like to feel so utterly alone. To feel rejected, mistreated, abused, hated, mocked, beaten down, spit upon, broken hearted, abandoned, betrayed, despised, etc.. Who was in that Garden the night He was arrested "overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death" (Matthew 16:36-46) He asked His closest friends to watch over Him and they slept. He pleaded with the Father, "if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will."
Jesus understands our pain, our suffering, and our heart aches, yet He goes on knowing that it will only get worse. This is a Jesus that can relate with me. Who is my strength. Yes there are times when I am drawn to great spiritual songs that inspire me to sing praise of victory to my God but there are other times that I am drawn to great spiritual songs (though not labeled "Christian") that draw me to a God who has experienced every temptation I battle with yet was without sin. Sometimes I need the Jesus who taught in the temple and sometimes I need the Jesus who ate with the tax collectors and sinners.
While Jesus was on that cross He cried out in a Loud voice, "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit."
Father take it all! I don't want it anymore. My sins, my lust, my filth, my pride, my arrogance, my selfishness, my anger, my pain, my brokenness, my depression, my addiction, my loneliness...and the list goes on and on. And He took it all on that cross.
God is at work all around us, we just get so caught up in our idea of spirituality that we miss what He is doing. Jesus, while praying in John 17, said this, " My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world."
Christians, Jesus paid the price, and He chose not to take us out of the world but to send us into the world so that people can see Jesus in us!
No comments:
Post a Comment