I live about thirty-five miles from work, so that means about forty minutes in the car each morning and afternoon. Fortunately, the traffic on the freeways I drive is usually pretty good. It is generally smooth sailing at about seventy miles per hour. There is maybe one or two days per school year when traffic is bad due to an accident or road closures. Like one afternoon this past year, when wildfires surrounded the San Fernando Valley, my car crawled toward home on various surface streets as I tried to avoid the 101 freeway, the only westbound route out of the Valley. Unfortunately, several thousand people had the same idea and my trip home lasted nearly four hours. These rare occasions aside, my drive to and from work is typically a pleasant one.
Having driven that route some five hundred times over the past three years, I just sort of go on autopilot once I get on the freeway. I pay little attention to the billboards and green freeway signs that announce upcoming exits. Every so often, someone will hang a “happy birthday” or “welcome home” banner from one of the overpasses. And every week and a half or so some new graffiti adorns the center divider (I never could figure out how the taggers can stand there and spray paint the cement divider without getting nailed by on-coming traffic). But other than that, the scenery is simply visual white noise (it’s not really all that attractive anyway).
So in order to keep myself from going completely comatose during the eighty minutes I spend in my car each day, I have taken up the activity of people watching. Now, with each car traveling at speeds ranging from fifty miles an hour to over ninety, I only get a split-second glance at my freeway neighbors. I mostly see what you would expect to see: coffee-sippers, cell-phone-talkers, make-up-appliers, and the occasional nose-picker. I have observed a few out-of-the-ordinary sights worth mentioning. Probably my favorite was a shirtless man in a topless BMW who was shaving with an electric razor as he drove down the street. Seeing something like that sort of sticks with you for awhile.
I think that what people do when alone in their cars says a lot about who they are (I’m sure a clinical psychologist would have a field day with shirtless-shaver man). What we do when we think no one is looking can speak volumes about our character. Equally interesting and equally telling is our choice in the car we drive. The kind of car we drive can be very representative of our character and values and self-image. Cars, especially in Southern California, are a status symbol; they show how we measure up to the rest of society. They also, in sometimes subtly ways (and in sometimes very obvious ways), convey to those around us how we see ourselves. I’m sure there are personality tests (if nowhere else than on Facebook) that associate the various personality types to various makes and models of automobiles.
Not only does our choice in car reflect their personality and self-image, but how we adorn our cars says probably even more. I can remember some former students of mine, very hard-working young men, who would save and save to buy the cheapest, yet somewhat socially acceptable car they could find. They would pull into the school parking lot in a coughing and sputtering 1984 Toyota Tercel. Then over the course of the rest of the school year, that car would go through a subtle transformation. First a new chrome-plated muffler. Then a spoiler. Then maybe some detail work on the hood or doors. By the end of the school year, it was a bona fide “Pimp My Ride” wannabe. The amazing thing is that all the add-ons were probably worth more than the car they were added on to.
Perhaps the most fascinating means of automotive self-expression, and the one I have taken most notice of during my morning and afternoon commutes, is the bumper sticker. It’s almost like an archaic form of Twitter; proclaim to the world who you are, what groups you belong to, your political affiliation, or your sense of humor. All in a small, rectangular, adhesive strip. Most of these fall into a few general categories: the activities and accomplishments of our children, sports team loyalties, political advertisements or endorsements, religious themes, and attempts at humor. Most bumper stickers, especially those in the last group mentioned, are trite and clichéd, but every once in awhile there is one that makes me laugh or pause to think. I remember one in particular that I just didn’t know what to make of it. It was all black with white letters that said “F*** Cancer.” I don’t even know where to begin trying to understand that one.
I think that my favorite bumper stickers are the ones that endorse a political candidate who ended up losing the election. Those old “Kerry / Edwards” or even the ever more rare “Gore / Lieberman” stickers make me chuckle every time. Either the adhesive on the back of the sticker is really, really strong, or the person in the car is having a really, really hard time accepting defeat. My guess is it’s a combination of the two.
While I haven’t done an actual count, my rough estimate would be that religious bumper stickers, and especially Christian ones, seem to make up the plurality of stickers I see on a daily basis (I say rough estimate because in the morning I am not awake enough to keep track of the ones I see, and in the afternoon I am usually too tired to care). Growing in popularity are the “Coexist” stickers in which the letters are made up of various religious symbols. Nothing inspires tolerance and understanding and acceptance like white letters on a navy blue background.
The current “in” stickers for the Christian cars appear to be the varied forms of the “NOTW” (Not Of This World) ones. They seem to be what the shiny plastic Jesus-fish were in the Seventies and Eighties, and what the “WWJD” stickers were in the Nineties. These “NOTW” stickers, in their assortment of sizes and aesthetically pleasing shapes, are the new cool way to share your faith with your fellow commuters.
These bumper stickers, along with the “Christians aren’t perfect, just forgiven” and the “In case of rapture, this car will be unmanned” got me thinking a bit (what else is there to do during a forty-minute commute at 6:45 in the morning?). And I came to a conclusion: I don’t like Christian bumper stickers and I don’t plan on ever getting one. Let me tell you why:
First, I don’t see how I could ever be a good witness to my fellow drivers by the way I drive. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m a good driver. I haven’t had a ticket in about ten years. I drive close to the speed limit, or at least with the “flow of traffic” (whatever that means). But the problem is that no one ever pays attention to the good drivers; it is only the bad ones we notice. The “God allows U-Turns” sticker on the back end of your car isn’t going to do much good when you cut off the guy in the lane next to you. In fact, seeing that Jesus-fish might even act as a turn-off to the driver left in your dust. Now I’m not saying that Christians are inherently bad drivers; in fact I would hope that the opposite is the case. But as I said earlier, no one remembers the good drivers they encounter on the road. No one comes home from work to tell their family, “You’ll never believe it, I needed to change lanes so I could make my exit, and the nicest woman in a dark blue Volvo slowed down and let me over. She had an ‘NOTW’ sticker on her window. I think it means she’s a Christian. Maybe I should become a Christian too.” Instead it’s more like, “You’ll never believe it. Some idiot in a blue Volvo raced up on me and wouldn’t let me over and I nearly crashed into someone else as I tried to make it to my exit. Oh, and to top it off, that Volvo had a nice, shiny Jesus-fish on the back. Those Christians are the worse drivers.” When I do make mistakes in my car, I know I probably deserve the evil glares and the mouthed swear words that I try to pretend not to notice, but Jesus doesn’t. So why should his name suffer for my bad driving?
Second, these visual expressions of faith don’t seem to be all that effective in actual evangelism. I’ve been a Christian all my life, and I have been to more than my share of outreach events and revival services and summer camps. In most of those types of events, especially those with an evangelistic bent, tend to feature a speaker giving his or her testimony of how they found Jesus (or some might say, how Jesus found them). Many of these speakers’ stories include drugs, sex, gangs, and all kinds of wild and licentious behavior. Then someone introduces the sinner to Jesus and they get saved and are a new person after that. In all of these stories I’ve heard, and like I said I’ve heard a lot of them, not one that I can remember involves a Jesus-fish on the back of a VW bus. I realize I am using the “Proof-by-Lack-of-Evidence” fallacy here, but the point is that most of the testimonies I have heard do involve people who are willing to take time and invest relationally in the lost soul’s life and personally guide them to the Savior. If that is what is most effective, perhaps the five dollars spent on a bumper sticker might be better spent buying that unsaved friend a cup of coffee. It has a much more personal touch.
Third, those stickers, be they “NOTW” or the old-school Jesus-fish, give us Christians a false sense of security. Before leaving earth, Jesus told his disciples to go make more disciples. Paul calls us ambassadors for Christ. We are his representatives given the task of telling others about how Jesus saved us and trying to convince them to put their faith in Jesus as well. But that is kind of scary. It means talking to people about very personal matters. And everyone knows it’s impolite to talk about religion. But what if there was an easier, less confrontational way to let people know you are a follower of Jesus? A way that didn’t necessitate actual human interaction? Enter the Jesus-fish, “NOTW” sticker, the “I (Heart) Jesus” t-shirt, et al. But these things are about as effective as Linus’s security blanket. They give us a sense of comfort, a sense that we are doing our job, but are really not much good for anything (plus bumper stickers of any kind tend to lower the resale value of the car).
This third reason reminds me of the point made in Steven Curtis Chapman’s song entitled “The Change.” In this song, SCC describes not only the bumper stickers and Jesus-fish, but all the other Christian-y paraphernalia that we spend our hard-earned on to tell the world that we are followers of Jesus. This may all be well and good, but he asks in the chorus, “What about the change? What about the difference? What about the life that’s showing I’m undergoing the change?” Sure our cars are a constant reminder that “Life is fragile, [so] handle with prayer” but are our lives a testimony to the truth behind that statement? Do our lives demonstrate that “God allows U-Turns”? Are we truly “Not Of This World” in terms of our words and actions and choices?
So while these outward, automotive displays of our faith may be well-intended, they are not very effective and, if anything, are often counter-productive. So how do we move beyond a mere bumper sticker faith? How do we get the word out about the saving power of Christ? How do we follow through on Christ’s Great Commission?
I’m glad you asked. To answer these questions, another song comes to mind, one I remember singing in my Christian elementary school chapel services. The chorus and the title, in fact, quote Jesus’ words in John 13:35 by saying “They will know we are Christians by our love.” Jesus (who I would say is the authority on attracting followers) said that it is our love for each other that would make us known to the world. Our identifying trait, and what would hopefully attract others to Christ, ought to be the love we show for each other.
I’ve seen this in action (unfortunately not as often as I should). About a year and a half ago, one of my colleagues came home one Sunday afternoon to find his home had completely burned to the ground. Everything was gone. All he and his family had was the clothes on their backs and whatever possessions that were in their car. The ASB at school decided to act; they wanted to help by raising money to provide for this teacher and his family as they tried to rebuild their lives. They put plastic cups in every teacher’s classroom to collect donations, and several teachers offered to shave their heads or dye their hair or perform embarrassing musical routines if they collected five hundred dollars in donations. A week or two later, the fundraiser was over and ASB was set to give this teacher the fruits of their labor. The teachers all paid up on their bets, and the ASB advisor handed the teacher an envelope not with five hundred dollars, but over three thousand dollars. Seeing that outpouring of generosity made all of us teachers very proud of our students. But when I changed hats for a moment and saw this as a parent, my thought was that this is exactly the type of school I want my kids to attend. These are the types of kids I hope my own kids become. This is the type of love that Jesus was talking about. The type that demonstrates we are his followers. The type that attracts others to the source of that love.
So bumper stickers, they provide a momentary break from the monotony of the commute. They give me something to chuckle at or stop and ponder for a moment as I make my way home at the end of the day. But witnessing tool that will help us reach the world for Christ… not so much.
Friday, June 19, 2009
Monday, June 15, 2009
Thoughts on Worship
I've been kicking around some ideas for essays on the topic of worship. In talking to my Writing Buddies, they suggested rather than writing individual essays and trying to market them to magazines or journals, that I compile the essays into a book. The basic premise is to look at and evaluate and make suggestions on our current state of worship. It would be geared more toward the lay participant sitting in the pew, rather than the worship leader or pastor (although they will be welcome to buy and read the book as well).
So before I begin writing, I want to kick around some ideas and questions. I don't want to do a lot of formal research for the book (I don't want it to be a really "academic" book), but I want to get some feedback and interaction on the ideas.Here are some of the issues and questions I hope to address:
1. First of all, what is worship? What would be your "twitter" definition of it (one sentence, 140 characters or less)? Is it simply singing? reading liturgy? corporate prayer? individual prayer?
2. Why do we worship? Some have said it is our purpose in life, why God created us, but is there more than that? If God created us simply to worship him, doesn't that make God sort of narcissistic? How does worship fit into a relationship with God?
3. If we look at the Pre-Fall Garden as God's "Plan A" (the way things are supposed to be), how did worship (or at least what we think of as worship) fit into that picture? What would worship have been like? How would that fit into
4. It would seem that the Old Testament idea of worship and relating to God contained a lot of ritual and sacrifice and formal procedure, and New Testament idea is much more personal and relational (God is our father, and Jesus is our "homeboy"). How do we reconcile these two very different approaches? Should we incorporate the formal ritual into our contemporary worship?
5. Jesus told the woman at the well that God desires those who worship him in "spirit and truth." What does it mean to worship in spirit? in truth?
6. Romans 12 tells us to "offer our bodies as living sacrifice, which is our spiritual act of worship." How do we offer our bodies to God? And how does that equate to worship?
7. Hebrews (I think it's Hebrews) talks about offering a "sacrifice of praise." What does that mean? How might this relate to the OT idea of offering to God our first and best? What is the contemporary equivalent of offering God the first fruits of our crops or the best from our flock of sheep? Do these things relate only to tithing or giving financially?
8. I have noticed a trend in a lot of contemporary worship songs that there are a lot more first-person pronouns than second- and third-person pronouns. The songs seem to be more about our experience of God and about what God does for us, than about simply praising God for who he is. Does this grammatical trend point to a trend in our worship? Is our worship becoming more self-centered, rather than God-centered? If so, how doe we fix that? Do we simply sing more God-centered songs?
9. Is there anything we can learn from other religions about worship? I don't mean to be heretical, but I believe that we have an innate desire to worship. Those who don't know the truth, worship what they see or know. But is there anything in how they approach their gods in worship that we can learn from? Example - the discipline of kneeling in prayer five times a day in Islam.
So, your assignment (should you choose to accept it) is to answer any or all of these questions. Also, please forward this to any friends who might have something to say about these topics. I don't have a lot of the answers myself, and I am hoping that through these discussions and through a lot of thought and prayer, that I can come to some answers (and hopefully turn that into a book so some sort).
thank you in advance for your input.
So before I begin writing, I want to kick around some ideas and questions. I don't want to do a lot of formal research for the book (I don't want it to be a really "academic" book), but I want to get some feedback and interaction on the ideas.Here are some of the issues and questions I hope to address:
1. First of all, what is worship? What would be your "twitter" definition of it (one sentence, 140 characters or less)? Is it simply singing? reading liturgy? corporate prayer? individual prayer?
2. Why do we worship? Some have said it is our purpose in life, why God created us, but is there more than that? If God created us simply to worship him, doesn't that make God sort of narcissistic? How does worship fit into a relationship with God?
3. If we look at the Pre-Fall Garden as God's "Plan A" (the way things are supposed to be), how did worship (or at least what we think of as worship) fit into that picture? What would worship have been like? How would that fit into
4. It would seem that the Old Testament idea of worship and relating to God contained a lot of ritual and sacrifice and formal procedure, and New Testament idea is much more personal and relational (God is our father, and Jesus is our "homeboy"). How do we reconcile these two very different approaches? Should we incorporate the formal ritual into our contemporary worship?
5. Jesus told the woman at the well that God desires those who worship him in "spirit and truth." What does it mean to worship in spirit? in truth?
6. Romans 12 tells us to "offer our bodies as living sacrifice, which is our spiritual act of worship." How do we offer our bodies to God? And how does that equate to worship?
7. Hebrews (I think it's Hebrews) talks about offering a "sacrifice of praise." What does that mean? How might this relate to the OT idea of offering to God our first and best? What is the contemporary equivalent of offering God the first fruits of our crops or the best from our flock of sheep? Do these things relate only to tithing or giving financially?
8. I have noticed a trend in a lot of contemporary worship songs that there are a lot more first-person pronouns than second- and third-person pronouns. The songs seem to be more about our experience of God and about what God does for us, than about simply praising God for who he is. Does this grammatical trend point to a trend in our worship? Is our worship becoming more self-centered, rather than God-centered? If so, how doe we fix that? Do we simply sing more God-centered songs?
9. Is there anything we can learn from other religions about worship? I don't mean to be heretical, but I believe that we have an innate desire to worship. Those who don't know the truth, worship what they see or know. But is there anything in how they approach their gods in worship that we can learn from? Example - the discipline of kneeling in prayer five times a day in Islam.
So, your assignment (should you choose to accept it) is to answer any or all of these questions. Also, please forward this to any friends who might have something to say about these topics. I don't have a lot of the answers myself, and I am hoping that through these discussions and through a lot of thought and prayer, that I can come to some answers (and hopefully turn that into a book so some sort).
thank you in advance for your input.
Tuesday, June 02, 2009
If I only knew then what I know now...
Today was the last official day of school. I still have finals to give, and meetings to attend, and a classroom to clean, but the year is basically over. I was talking with one of my colleagues this morning; she teaches Senior English. She had her students do a writing assignment about ten things they wish they knew as freshman that might have helped them along the way. She decided to do her own list of things she wished she had been told when she graduated high school. Feeling inspired - and not wanting to grade that last set of research papers - I decided to do the same thing for the seniors in my AP classes. I came up with my list of 11 things that I wish I had been told fifteen years ago (I can't believe it either) when I received my diploma. Here they are:
1. People in college will not be all that impressed with what you did in high school.
2. College professors don't always take attendance, but they do expect you to know and be able to repeat on a test every word that came out of their mouths.
3. Life is expensive.
4. Flipping burgers is not beneath you.
5. Your parents are a lot smarter than you may think they are right now.
6. You will be judged by your appearance, so think twice before you get that tattoo or piercing.
7. Your metabolism will one day come to a grinding halt.
8. The only time you will hear from many of your closest friends from high school is when they update their Facebook pages.
9. Remember you are in college to get an education and a degree. It's not worth $40K per year just to go to frat parties.
10. Sometimes you have to "sell out" or "play the game," whether it's at work or school, so choose your battles carefully. Some hills aren't worth dying on.
11. The best advice given to me: "Keep following Jesus. His ways, not yours."
1. People in college will not be all that impressed with what you did in high school.
2. College professors don't always take attendance, but they do expect you to know and be able to repeat on a test every word that came out of their mouths.
3. Life is expensive.
4. Flipping burgers is not beneath you.
5. Your parents are a lot smarter than you may think they are right now.
6. You will be judged by your appearance, so think twice before you get that tattoo or piercing.
7. Your metabolism will one day come to a grinding halt.
8. The only time you will hear from many of your closest friends from high school is when they update their Facebook pages.
9. Remember you are in college to get an education and a degree. It's not worth $40K per year just to go to frat parties.
10. Sometimes you have to "sell out" or "play the game," whether it's at work or school, so choose your battles carefully. Some hills aren't worth dying on.
11. The best advice given to me: "Keep following Jesus. His ways, not yours."
Friday, May 08, 2009
The Boycott Bandwagon
Here's one I wrote a number of years ago. It was published - and then pulled - from an online magazine. Apparently it ruffled a few too many feathers... I'm rather proud of that.
Disney offers fringe benefits to same-sex partners of their employees, the same benefits they offer to the spouses of married employees. Also, many of their recent films propagate “New Age” and worldly ideas. Scholastic Books sells the Harry Potter series and promotes these books – and others that deal with magic and witchcraft – in the public school system. For a while, Yahoo was allowing adult films to be advertised on their web page, accessible to anyone. Many big chain and local bookstores and video stores sell adult magazines and videos. This list could go on and on. The evils of this world are all around us.
And how do we as Christians respond to this imminent threat? We boycott. That’s right, we boycott the products and stores. We stand on street corners holding picket signs. Then we send emails to all our friends telling them not to support these companies as well.
I remember the first time I heard about the “boycott bandwagon” rolling through town. In 1988, Universal Pictures released Martin Scorsese’s The Last Temptation of Christ. While it received a lot of critical acclaim, most Christians “went to the mattresses” over the blasphemous nature of the film. Some even tried to purchase the negatives so that they could destroy them before the film’s release. Pastors everywhere were telling their congregations to boycott Universal. And many in those congregations did boycott Universal, for a while at least.
But in the grand scheme of things, what good has it done? Did we think that with our picket signs and chain emails that we could actually topple these multi-million dollar companies and rid the world of their corrupting influence? I cannot recall a single instance in which one of these companies decided to pull a product off the shelves as a result of protesting Christians. See, I think we’ve been going about this all wrong. Instead of threatening not to buy products or services, we need to completely remove ourselves from all this wickedness. We need to take drastic measures. I have a plan…
We, the Body of Christ, need to band together and have our own state (kind of like what Brigham Young and the Mormons did in Utah). We could become a completely autonomous entity and expel all evildoers from our borders. We would have to be totally self-sufficient, producing our own products to meet all our needs and desires. After all, we couldn’t import anything for fear of supporting some liberal or licentious corporation.
I can see it now. Every home elegantly decorated with Thomas Kinkade prints with strategically placed Bible verses. Every television broadcasting reruns of Leave It to Beaver and 7th Heaven. You could catch a double feature at the movie theater of Left Behind and the Jesus film. Children can be seen in living rooms watching Veggie Tales and playing with their “Little Jesus” action figures. Every car has a Jesus fish and bumper stickers that say, “Christians aren’t perfect, just forgiven.” Oh what a wonderful world it would be.
Of course there are tons of practical issues to deal with here. But not to worry, I’ve worked out most of those details. We could raise the money by holding car washes and bake sales. Or, if we choose to be a bit more aggressive, we could pursue those user-owner laws (the ones that say if you use a piece of property for x number of years, you can go to court and claim it as your own). Just a few more years of protesting on the sidewalks outside one of these notorious stores, and the place is ours. So, finances wouldn’t really be an issue. And besides, God has a big bank account; He’ll certainly provide.
Taking into consideration the differences in opinion and doctrine amongst various denominations, we could give each one their own county. That way, we would not only be separated from the debauchery of the world, but also from each other.
We would also have to build huge walls around our state and only allow in those who have confessed Jesus as Lord and Savior. Soldiers armed with their swords of the Spirit would guard every possible means of entrance. Along with this wall would be a big bubble to keep out radio and television waves from the outside.
Think of it. Doesn’t this sound great? We would no longer have to worry about our money supporting companies and organizations that don’t line up with Biblical standards. We would no longer have the corruption of the world influencing our Christian lives (think of how great it would be for the children!). All ties and connections with the world would be severed. Certainly this is what Jesus would do, isn’t it?
Disney offers fringe benefits to same-sex partners of their employees, the same benefits they offer to the spouses of married employees. Also, many of their recent films propagate “New Age” and worldly ideas. Scholastic Books sells the Harry Potter series and promotes these books – and others that deal with magic and witchcraft – in the public school system. For a while, Yahoo was allowing adult films to be advertised on their web page, accessible to anyone. Many big chain and local bookstores and video stores sell adult magazines and videos. This list could go on and on. The evils of this world are all around us.
And how do we as Christians respond to this imminent threat? We boycott. That’s right, we boycott the products and stores. We stand on street corners holding picket signs. Then we send emails to all our friends telling them not to support these companies as well.
I remember the first time I heard about the “boycott bandwagon” rolling through town. In 1988, Universal Pictures released Martin Scorsese’s The Last Temptation of Christ. While it received a lot of critical acclaim, most Christians “went to the mattresses” over the blasphemous nature of the film. Some even tried to purchase the negatives so that they could destroy them before the film’s release. Pastors everywhere were telling their congregations to boycott Universal. And many in those congregations did boycott Universal, for a while at least.
But in the grand scheme of things, what good has it done? Did we think that with our picket signs and chain emails that we could actually topple these multi-million dollar companies and rid the world of their corrupting influence? I cannot recall a single instance in which one of these companies decided to pull a product off the shelves as a result of protesting Christians. See, I think we’ve been going about this all wrong. Instead of threatening not to buy products or services, we need to completely remove ourselves from all this wickedness. We need to take drastic measures. I have a plan…
We, the Body of Christ, need to band together and have our own state (kind of like what Brigham Young and the Mormons did in Utah). We could become a completely autonomous entity and expel all evildoers from our borders. We would have to be totally self-sufficient, producing our own products to meet all our needs and desires. After all, we couldn’t import anything for fear of supporting some liberal or licentious corporation.
I can see it now. Every home elegantly decorated with Thomas Kinkade prints with strategically placed Bible verses. Every television broadcasting reruns of Leave It to Beaver and 7th Heaven. You could catch a double feature at the movie theater of Left Behind and the Jesus film. Children can be seen in living rooms watching Veggie Tales and playing with their “Little Jesus” action figures. Every car has a Jesus fish and bumper stickers that say, “Christians aren’t perfect, just forgiven.” Oh what a wonderful world it would be.
Of course there are tons of practical issues to deal with here. But not to worry, I’ve worked out most of those details. We could raise the money by holding car washes and bake sales. Or, if we choose to be a bit more aggressive, we could pursue those user-owner laws (the ones that say if you use a piece of property for x number of years, you can go to court and claim it as your own). Just a few more years of protesting on the sidewalks outside one of these notorious stores, and the place is ours. So, finances wouldn’t really be an issue. And besides, God has a big bank account; He’ll certainly provide.
Taking into consideration the differences in opinion and doctrine amongst various denominations, we could give each one their own county. That way, we would not only be separated from the debauchery of the world, but also from each other.
We would also have to build huge walls around our state and only allow in those who have confessed Jesus as Lord and Savior. Soldiers armed with their swords of the Spirit would guard every possible means of entrance. Along with this wall would be a big bubble to keep out radio and television waves from the outside.
Think of it. Doesn’t this sound great? We would no longer have to worry about our money supporting companies and organizations that don’t line up with Biblical standards. We would no longer have the corruption of the world influencing our Christian lives (think of how great it would be for the children!). All ties and connections with the world would be severed. Certainly this is what Jesus would do, isn’t it?
Spiritual Obesity
Just a little something I wrote awhile back...
“Faith without works… makes overweight Christians.”
Several years ago, I remember reading an article about a lawsuit filed against McDonald’s. This was not your typical hot-coffee-spilled-in-the-lap lawsuit. This one alleged that those Big Macs and delicious golden brown fries made people fat. These people were actually blaming McDonald’s for their obesity. My first reaction was something like, “Well duh, of course eating at McDonald’s everyday is going to make you fat.” The ridiculousness of it all was rather humorous actually.
Then a few months later, a follow-up article appeared. The judge had apparently thrown out the case, restoring some of my faith in our legal system. It was good to know that at least one person involved had a few ounces of common sense.
This whole shenanigan being something that sticks with you for a while, I began to reflect on it in search of some deeper meaning or truth. (Yes, you’d be right in saying I had too much free time.) But something occurred to me. Perhaps I too could take advantage of the overly litigious society in which we live to make a statement. Except I wouldn’t bring a lawsuit against another fast food giant, but against the Church. Yes, I would file legal action against the Church for creating an obese Body of Christ. Now hear me out on this one. I am alleging that the Church today is spiritually overweight, and someone ought to be held accountable.
Ok, for those not catching on yet, I am being facetious. I’m not actually saying we should file a class-action suit against our pastors and elder boards. This condition that I am describing is no more their sole responsibility than the physical fitness of McDonald’s patrons is the responsibility of the chain’s management. But I do believe that we have a problem. Many who fill the pews on Sunday morning are facing a condition of spiritual obesity, which if left untreated, may cause harm to their spiritual well being.
James wrote, “Faith without works is dead.” Without sounding too heretical, I’d like to suggest a minor modification to that passage. I would suggest that faith without works leads to lethargy and apathy, which leads to obesity, which leads to death. Here’s what I mean:
Every one of us red-blooded, born again Christians fills our lives and schedules with spiritual intake. We have church on Sunday, mid-week Bible study, family devotions, personal devotions, and a plethora of Christian living books to read. If this amount of spiritual intake were transformed into actual meat and potatoes, we could end hunger in Africa.
We take in an inordinate amount of spiritual “calories,” but many of us do little to “burn them off,” so to speak. We have faith, but not the actions to accompany it. Sure we do our part by being nice to our neighbors and co-workers. We volunteer for the church rummage sale, or even spend a week as a camp counselor. But for the most part, these spiritual calories just sit, turn to fat, and turn us into overweight, lethargic Christians.
So what do we do? How do we get back in shape? Unfortunately, as with physical fitness, there are no quick and easy solutions. No pills or diet shakes. Dr. Phil and Dr. Atkins are left out of this one. Just like physical weight loss, spiritual weight loss requires a balanced diet and exercise, which unfortunately requires a lot of hard work and discipline.
The first thing we need to do is watch what we eat, or what we take in spiritually. Now, am I suggesting that we cut back on going to church or on personal devotions? Not exactly, but perhaps we do over-indulge ourselves with spiritual food. I think our spiritual metabolism works very similarly to our physical metabolism. Our intake needs to equal our output. If we’re taking in more than we are working out, then there is a problem. We become overweight. So we should either decrease our intake, or increase our output. But I’ll get to that in a second.
In addition to monitoring our amount of spiritual intake, we also need to be mindful of the quality of it. There is a lot of spiritual “junk food” out there vying for our attention and our appetites. This junk food is all the books is all the books and sermons and devotions that make us feel really good, but lack real substance. Our diet needs to have depth and weight to it; real meat and potatoes, not ice cream and Twinkies. What we hear and read should “spur us on toward love and good deeds.”
Along with a good, balanced diet, we need to exercise our faith. We need to regularly put our faith into action, real action that makes a difference. Just like with a physical workout, a spiritual workout should hurt a little. It should tire us out. It needs to involve real activity. We need to get up off our backsides and serve the needy, feed the hungry, and shelter the homeless. We need to turn our knowledge of God’s love for us into an active display of that love to the dying world around us.
There is certainly no lack of needs to be met. Whether a world away in the jungles of Africa or right next door, our world is full of people in need. In need of food, in need of shelter, in need of love. It’s our job to get out there and help in any and every way we can.
But it’s not just a matter of meeting needs or helping the less fortunate. This is a matter of our own spiritual health. We need to be out there helping and serving just as much as those people need to be helped and served. It’s good for them, and it’s good for us.
Think about it, then do something about it.
“Faith without works… makes overweight Christians.”
Several years ago, I remember reading an article about a lawsuit filed against McDonald’s. This was not your typical hot-coffee-spilled-in-the-lap lawsuit. This one alleged that those Big Macs and delicious golden brown fries made people fat. These people were actually blaming McDonald’s for their obesity. My first reaction was something like, “Well duh, of course eating at McDonald’s everyday is going to make you fat.” The ridiculousness of it all was rather humorous actually.
Then a few months later, a follow-up article appeared. The judge had apparently thrown out the case, restoring some of my faith in our legal system. It was good to know that at least one person involved had a few ounces of common sense.
This whole shenanigan being something that sticks with you for a while, I began to reflect on it in search of some deeper meaning or truth. (Yes, you’d be right in saying I had too much free time.) But something occurred to me. Perhaps I too could take advantage of the overly litigious society in which we live to make a statement. Except I wouldn’t bring a lawsuit against another fast food giant, but against the Church. Yes, I would file legal action against the Church for creating an obese Body of Christ. Now hear me out on this one. I am alleging that the Church today is spiritually overweight, and someone ought to be held accountable.
Ok, for those not catching on yet, I am being facetious. I’m not actually saying we should file a class-action suit against our pastors and elder boards. This condition that I am describing is no more their sole responsibility than the physical fitness of McDonald’s patrons is the responsibility of the chain’s management. But I do believe that we have a problem. Many who fill the pews on Sunday morning are facing a condition of spiritual obesity, which if left untreated, may cause harm to their spiritual well being.
James wrote, “Faith without works is dead.” Without sounding too heretical, I’d like to suggest a minor modification to that passage. I would suggest that faith without works leads to lethargy and apathy, which leads to obesity, which leads to death. Here’s what I mean:
Every one of us red-blooded, born again Christians fills our lives and schedules with spiritual intake. We have church on Sunday, mid-week Bible study, family devotions, personal devotions, and a plethora of Christian living books to read. If this amount of spiritual intake were transformed into actual meat and potatoes, we could end hunger in Africa.
We take in an inordinate amount of spiritual “calories,” but many of us do little to “burn them off,” so to speak. We have faith, but not the actions to accompany it. Sure we do our part by being nice to our neighbors and co-workers. We volunteer for the church rummage sale, or even spend a week as a camp counselor. But for the most part, these spiritual calories just sit, turn to fat, and turn us into overweight, lethargic Christians.
So what do we do? How do we get back in shape? Unfortunately, as with physical fitness, there are no quick and easy solutions. No pills or diet shakes. Dr. Phil and Dr. Atkins are left out of this one. Just like physical weight loss, spiritual weight loss requires a balanced diet and exercise, which unfortunately requires a lot of hard work and discipline.
The first thing we need to do is watch what we eat, or what we take in spiritually. Now, am I suggesting that we cut back on going to church or on personal devotions? Not exactly, but perhaps we do over-indulge ourselves with spiritual food. I think our spiritual metabolism works very similarly to our physical metabolism. Our intake needs to equal our output. If we’re taking in more than we are working out, then there is a problem. We become overweight. So we should either decrease our intake, or increase our output. But I’ll get to that in a second.
In addition to monitoring our amount of spiritual intake, we also need to be mindful of the quality of it. There is a lot of spiritual “junk food” out there vying for our attention and our appetites. This junk food is all the books is all the books and sermons and devotions that make us feel really good, but lack real substance. Our diet needs to have depth and weight to it; real meat and potatoes, not ice cream and Twinkies. What we hear and read should “spur us on toward love and good deeds.”
Along with a good, balanced diet, we need to exercise our faith. We need to regularly put our faith into action, real action that makes a difference. Just like with a physical workout, a spiritual workout should hurt a little. It should tire us out. It needs to involve real activity. We need to get up off our backsides and serve the needy, feed the hungry, and shelter the homeless. We need to turn our knowledge of God’s love for us into an active display of that love to the dying world around us.
There is certainly no lack of needs to be met. Whether a world away in the jungles of Africa or right next door, our world is full of people in need. In need of food, in need of shelter, in need of love. It’s our job to get out there and help in any and every way we can.
But it’s not just a matter of meeting needs or helping the less fortunate. This is a matter of our own spiritual health. We need to be out there helping and serving just as much as those people need to be helped and served. It’s good for them, and it’s good for us.
Think about it, then do something about it.
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