Jesus was not American. Jesus doesn't
stand for all the ideals that are central to any of our
cultures, actually. We have to get out of the idea of making our God
fit into the image of a self made god. We have to stop layering him
into our personal ideals of what is good and necessary and right. We
have to stop thinking we can make Him and we have to start letting
Him make us. I'm going to go through some of the points I have come
across about how Jesus crashes down the walls our culture is built around and works so hard to defend.
1.A simplified sense of justice
We are conditioned to expect revenge.
To think that justice means revenge, means the bad guy gets whats
coming to him in the climax of the movie. (Who gets Humperdink?!)
Jesus didn't
open his mouth to defend his innocence.
Isaiah 53:7
He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.
1 Peter 3:8
Finally, all of you be of one mind,
having compassion for one another- love as brothers, be
tenderhearted, be courteous, not returning evil for evil or reviling
for reviling, but on the contrary, blessing, knowing you were called
to this, that you may inherit of a blessing.
2.A pharisitical disposition
Pride for our
spirituality. Pride for the symbols we have to prove our exclusive
brand of religion that parades how well we serve God. A seperatist,
elitist mentality. A slash on a tally counting the number of ways
that the filthy non-Christian world does not touch our bubble of
perfection.
A carefully
crafted mask put on Sunday morning to hide the stains of sin from the
week before.
...but the tax
collector stood a ways off, beating his chest saying, “Oh God! Have
mercy on me, a sinner!” Which of these men went back justified?
(Luke 18:10-14)
3`.Insistantly holding onto
fabrications
“For me, God
is...”
No He isn't. For
you, god is. Lower case “g” god. For you, god is accepting of
everything. For you, god just wants you to be happy and whatever path
that makes you feel good must be that. God is real and his ways don't
include doing whatever it takes to make you happy. That is not why
you were created. A search for happiness is a bland diversion from
true meaning and is designed so that you will never achieve it.
Because true happiness is a fleeting, wispy dream that includes
momentary pleasure and a constant strain to shut out the noises of
all unpleasantness and reality outside the door. True joy is knowing
the Lord loves you and created you for a purpose. True joy can only
start once the idol taking the place of faith in your heart crashes
down.
"The
church for too long has followed Casper, the friendly ghost instead
of seeking the fire of the Holy Spirit. We have turned limp at the
thought of our own cross; we faint when we think of suffering or
sacrifice.
Beloved, it is time to embrace the fire of God's Presence. It is the
fire that purifies our sacrifice. " -Francis
Frangipane
Amen! Its frustrating to see so much of the church fall into this mentality, but encouraging to see this post. This topic has been something on my heart/mind for some time. In fact Im even working on a book to help people see this and avoid it so they can truly know the Lord.
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