We talk a lot.
(This has some useful information in it, though it's littered with sentence fragments and unresolved theses. )
That seems like something that can slip through the cracks, not reading what we claim to be the inspired Word of the God we worship. The weight of that still appalls me, it tips the scales; chores related to learning more about someone we claim to be the focal point of all history and the One who personally came to save us from a directionless, angry existence here and a directionless, angry fiery torment after we die.
Moreover, we get Him. He promises the Spirit on all those who believe, and we claim the Spirit as One with the Father God and His Son, Jesus, our Saviour. We get Him. We believe that.
This is for example, let's take for instance that we claim a lot of stuff, that we've either read personally in the Bible or second-hand from one knowledgable of the Scriptures. This is just a springboard.
I'm going to propose from simple observation, that Christianity in many circles is driven by emotions. Now when I say that, most of the five people that skim this blog think of charismatics and certain people in new-evangelical circles, that's just what the five of us have heard. Think something different: perhaps those that even claim all the truths of the Bible still live in a haze of paranoia; the penchant, and maybe it's waning, for literature and sermons based on "the battle for Christian this" or "Terrors of the Tribulation" etc... how bad it is, or how bad it will get instead of (not how good it is, because it's not perfect we know that), but simply hoping in the Lord, for things unseen.
If we claim the truths that I mentioned about, realize that they blanket a bunch of other truths including the perserverence of the saints, the victory of Christ over death, the unstoppable grace and kindness that are branded in the hearts of all believers. The logical conclusion would be this: live a life of trust, of faith.
Be honest, how should faith manifest itself: Here's two things that I'm constantly reminded of the simplicity:
"The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers. Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. As each has received a gift use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace:"
"Now concerning brotherly love you have no need for anyone to write to you for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another, for that indeed is what you are doing to all the brothers throughout Macedonia. But we urge you, brothers, to do this more and more, and to aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you, so that you may live properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one."
In the first case, we are sober. We should never be whipped into a frenzy over the climate of our culture, of course it's bad. That's not a flippant statement, once again, be honest, when your heart is stirred to yell about the ills of society, is it not your flesh. Or should I say our flesh. We're a gracious, faithful people, saturated in reason. Christianity is totally rational. (more on that later)
Secondly, what are we required to do? Love one another, better ourselves(more and more), live quietly, mind our own affairs, work with our hands.
The outcome is "our testimony", that sometimes nebulous term refers to how we represent God as Christians. Our testimony is not what we claim verbally. This is how we claim.
That's it for the morning.
Please contribute to this, whoever reads. I want to make sure that this, and the direction it implies, is making some sense to others.
I read this several times to get it in my mind (not because it was hard to understand...in most places). I believe after considering it, I agree with it over all. So I was thinking what I can I add to the discussion?
About the Spirit:
question: Are you saying many of us believe we get Him; believe He is co-equal; but don't really think about Him most days of the week?
I don't want to put words in your mouth, but that's how I feel sometimes when I am around other Christians; although, I am ashamed to say, I have this problem too.
About emotions:
I agree with you that many Christians thrive on the emotional content of a Sunday morning message. But I have often thought about a different "emotional" problem of "over-control." I don't know what word to use, and I don't want it to be confused with "self-control" which is biblical. I'm talking about people who are so worried that they will look overcome with emotion that they are afraid to show any emotion. I know that you might think I'm talking about singing and "praise and worship." But I'm really just talking about talking about God.
I'm not sure if you planned this or not but it was rather enjoyable to me. "We talk a lot." Such an honest statement. But the conclusion of the matter is servanthood. It's our doing.
Thanks Kammer. I want to hear more.
Posted by: micah at July 3, 2004 01:55 PMA better term form 'get' would be 'receive'. We're given the "power to become sons of God". Believing the co-equality of the Spirit with Jesus was to reinforce the fact that we become more and more like the perfect Man, Jesus Christ. I don't recognize the weight of that enough and I blame alot of my unbelief on that. That's more of what I was trying to say.
About 'over-control', I believe that part of being sanctified is the ability to be honest with yourself, discerning your own actions. Adoration of God, for me anyway, is a combination of realizing my own unworthiness and acknowledging His worthiness that in the end, covers my own inadequacy (I still don't know why, so I have to believe in faith) But that adoration is approached, not regimentally, but in reverence, honesty of who God is and the futility of my own drive to express myself emotionally.
How much we use the Lord in conversation or say amen in church or berate liberal media, is small compared to the simple way of living that the Lord prescribes in the aforementioned epistles.
I had to write this down quick, so I may have missed some of your points.
Thanks for responding, man.
Posted by: Kammer at July 3, 2004 05:10 PMYou've touched on something I've been thinking about recently. It is true that we have learned in our mainstream christian culture how to talk and walk and do what the other monkeys do to get along. But the frightenning thing is that i hear moer and more about people who (just like me) didn't start taking their relationship with God seriously until late into high school or soon after. We trick ourselves into believeing our own fake sincerity. I've had to make myself stop and really assess where i am with the Lord. How well do i really know Him? What do i need to do now to really know Him as I should?
Today i fear the word 'testimony' because that was all i ever used to worry about. I used to be over concerned with whether my standards were high enough, or if i was separated from worldly friends enough; christianity was nothing more than a set of don'ts.
I've learned that to know a God who is deeply interested in having my attention and heart and knowing me, then I've got to set concrete goals. I need to read everyday (yes, they were right way back in first grade sunday school). I need to see where i want to be spiritually at the end of the summer (or in two weeks, or whenever) and plot out the steps to take in order to get there.
I've learned that if I'm growing in Christ then my desires will change. That if God is serious when He tells us that the world will hate us if we love Him, then the world will do all the separating for us.
I've learned that to love God envelopes both reason and emotion. We need to love the LORD our God with all our heart, and with all our soul, and with all our strength. I don't know if we can separate the two accurately, but I've seen extremes on both sides. So much of what we need to 'do' precipitates out of having a single-minded, driven focus on getting a firm grasp on God and holding on for dear life.
Micah, I think I understand your concern over the "stoniness" of some Christians. The obsession with looking well-contained and APPEARING "self-controlled" leads to a severity, an austerity unbecoming one who has truly tasted God's mercy and grace. When I say 'stony,' I'm not referring to reticence, which can be anything from a simple personality trait to something many of us ought to practice more often; rather, I refer to a lack of what a friend would call 'transparency': the graciousness of living that allows others to see that we are human, that we struggle, or even more positively, that we really enjoy things. If we can't admit any of these things through honest living, how can we ever hope to glorify Christ in our lives? To pretend we don't grieve, struggle, falter, is to claim we don't need Him; to deny that we utterly delight in any of His creation is to snub His good gifts. That said, while I am very wary of emotionalism--of 'faith' founded in a few exhilarating experiences, as opposed to God's Word--I do see emotions as part of the package of who He has made us; they'll deceive us whenever we give them the chance, as will any part of our fallen nature--but they weren't designed to. So those who see a danger in their tendency to rely on emotions are right to do so, but to denounce them all as purely wicked is tossing a big, fat, screaming baby out with the bathwater.
Tim, thanks for the comment on separation: I'd never looked at it from that angle before, and it struck a chord of truth.
Kammer, thanks for the needed comments on quiet living and a wholeness of testimony that flows from a sober, Spirit-filled life. "We talk a lot." I know what you mean.
Posted by: jd at July 6, 2004 10:30 AMUm. I didn't read any of this. I just wanted you to know that "a lot" is spelled with two words.
=,
Posted by: JMac at July 7, 2004 08:54 AMThanks abunch, Jon.
Posted by: Kammer at July 7, 2004 09:01 AMPlease note: Comments will not appear immediately. Your comment will appear upon approval by the blog's editor. We had to implement this to decrease the amount of spam that our site receives. Please forgive the inconvenience. We are looking into other, friendlier options.