The Crazy Ones - Part One

I remember watching the Antiques Roadshow and thinking to myself that there is a lot of stuff out there that people are willing to pay a great price for. Take for example the old tin toys that can fetch a price tag of one hundred dollars or more! The next time I go to a garage sale I will keep my eyes open for those little treasures.

Economics 201 will teach you that the price or cost of an item is “what you are willing to give up in order to attain it.” So if we look closely at the pants some of us are wearing we would be willing to give up $350 for them. We would give up 35 hours of work at $10 an hour for those pants. When I think of the cost of things in terms of hours of work I begin to gain some perspective. I think about cars, homes, boats, clothes, movies or music and all those other material positions that we cannot do without. That’s a lot of time devoted for things that will go to waste.

What about some of the things that money cannot buy? Should we call Mastercard® for their list? What comes to mind; freedom, time, friends, love? All these things are considered priceless, but what would they be worth if you could buy them? Would you give your house, your family, or even your life? Think of some of the movements in the past that have revolved around these concepts. World wars were fought in the name of freedom, there were movements to end slavery, for equality between men and women, races, and while not more recently but definitely more ‘noticed’ now, the end of poverty.

I have been thinking about that list for sometime – the things that money cannot buy and their costs – (feel free to add to it) and then I considered my faith.

Being a Christian in North America, the notions of suffering or sacrifice are virtues all but lost among me, and in my own observation I think we have things pretty good. We can have our cake and eat it too I suppose. I can worship the Lord and be forgiven consistently every week, and then look after my own success and image for the remainder of the week. But what is the cost, the worth?

Have you ever heard the words “the Gospel is a free gift?” Have you ever urged someone to take the step of faith to accept Jesus Christ assuring them that their life will be ‘better’ and that it will ‘cost them’ nothing? I know that I have, and I am now beginning to see things quite differently.

I went on a search in the Book of Life for examples of people paying a price for their faith. The names like Davis, Joseph, and Samson come to mind. My good friend Abraham gives me the most terrifying view of the cost of his faith. He waited years for the Lord to work a miracle in his life, the birth of his child Isaac from his barren wife Sarah. And after He was true to His word, he asked for Abe to give it (his dream come true - his son) back to Him. I have no idea what Abraham’s thoughts might have been as he wrestled through these the outcomes of his own obedience, but for some reason in the end He submitted himself to the fact that his God had spoken, and he was going to be obedient to His voice. That He was worth it.

Why?

We're All Infected...

In recent days I have been diagnosed with a illbess upon my own observations. It’s not the same kind of sickness as Typhoid fever, or Ebola, but I see it as just as deadly. In actuality this is a disease that we all have common. You may have heard of it, it’s called common sense.

You may be wondering why I am putting the term common sense in the same ward as a life taking disease, and the obvious reason is just that – I see them giving the same results.

Once again I will caution anyone who reads this to remember that my observations are all based off of my observations within the church in North America, and so any critique I may give applies directly to myself and the part of the body that I am acquainted with, but goes no further than that unless you are willing to diagnose yourself and your current situation, I suggest you do.

When I read the stories contained in the Bible I find myself getting pulled into a world where the priorities are on the Lord and His will, where nothing else matters. The concept of having a ‘right’ to something seems so distant. (Perhaps that made it easier for those in the Bible – who are no different than ourselves – because they had no desire to ‘discover who they were’ and ‘individualism’ most likely a foreign idea when laid beside the foundation it seems to play in our contemporary society.)

I read so many stories about wild faith; a man climbing a mountain to sacrifice his own son, a young boy taking on a giant with six rocks as his weapon. A man who was asked to lay on his side in front of a city for an extended amount of time. What about a man who built a huge boat big enough to contain all the animals in the world? There was that one guy who went parted the Red Sea. And then there were those three guys who found themselves in the middle of a fire, yet were not burned.

These are all stories from the Book of Life. I think to myself what my own thought process would be if I thought I were being asked to do that from the Lord and my immediate thought would be “No way, that’s crazy, it doesn’t make sense to do that.”

Well Greg, given your examples above it doesn’t seem that God is all too interested in ‘making sense’, it seems he’s more interested in obedience. Perhaps an uncommon obedience?

What must I do to rid myself of this ‘safe’ manner of thinking? I am so concerned with giving the least and getting the most for it that I often feel contaminated and useless.

Father I long to give you my life, but this pride is so strong that it gets in the way of Your words. Help me to see with Your eyes and to trust completely. Lord may you release us all from the barrier of common sense so that we will be willing to adventure with You. Remove this common sense so that Your will is done on Earth as it is in heaven.

I’m tired of being safe. I need to stop thinking about my own safety. I need a cure.

On a side note, I forbid anyone including myself in using this note as a document that justifies irresponsibility. There is a difference. The idea of doing something ‘uncommon’ because we think the Lord has asked us to is different than doing whatever we want because we are ‘punishing the man’ that is common sense. God gave us a brain, and we need to use it. Just don’t let it ‘out think’ what He is whispering to you in your heart.

Why Do I Do It?

I have been wrestling with numerous thoughts over the past month, and I intend to spill some of them here. Let me remind you that none of these are conclusions, just observations and thoughts that I am giving some attention.

What have I been saved from? I have heard the good news, about how He saved me from hell, how He died on the cross for my sins, and how we will live forever in heaven. Yet it’s this idea of grace that seems to baffle me. I am struggling with the idea of living a life for Christ that is without caution; a life that would demonstrate to the rest of the world and myself, the truth contained in God’s word. Yet what is holding me back? What keeps me shackled in place and reminds me that what I live right now is safe and altogether good?

A few Friday’s ago I had the chance to attend a gathering of fellow believers and witnessed as we all bled our hearts before the Lord, giving Him praise for the good He’s done in our lives. And then, when the service was over, we marched our designer tee’s and dry denim pants to the local restaurant to eat our fill as we enjoyed the rest of the evening.

My struggle comes in the form of my safety. How easy is it to worship God and praise His name for the blessings He’s giving me, and then turn all the focus back on myself as soon as I leave the building? Because what I am starting to realize is that in many ways, I love my faith because the way I live it - and the way it is presented to me- it seems nothing is required of me.

I think back in my brief life of all the struggles and hardships, and while there were some, for the most part I come up empty handed. And so I pray a prayer that is supposed to grant me eternal life, and then I am in. The idea of giving up anything for that gift is put off to the side, because after all it’s free right? At least that’s the way I have presented it to others.

And so as I watch my faith crumble in the eyes of North Americans I am left wondering where I went wrong. And at this moment I think it is the idea of grace. In my North American upbringing I have been given more than the rest of the world in almost every way, and when the idea of suffering comes along it is very much a foreign concept.

Another reason why my faith seems appealing, because God promises to take care of me.

But what grinds me even more, is the fact that I actually have believed the lie that I am good, or perhaps that I am not that bad. I have never physically murdered, been an adulterer, and I often open the doors for other people. And while I know I am struggling to communicate my innocence, the question rises up, “what have I been saved from?”

I am so thankful for the Lord saving me from hell, but in all honesty do I really believe I would have gone there in the first place? My society tells me to be an individual, to express who I am, and to take care of myself. Survival of the fittest. And the natural progression of this mindset leads me to the belief that I am my own god.

If we really dig deep and think hard, we will look around and see that our contemporary faith in North America seems strangely lacking to the claims of Christ. Where is this life changing faith Jesus of Nazareth seemed to live out so flawlessly? Why is Christianity seen as such an ‘evil and ignorant religion’ in the eyes of today’s society?

The hardest question that I see standing before me is, why do I not see a visible example of someone taking up their cross daily. Why isn’t someone out there displaying Christ in His manifest power?

The conclusion I come to is this; there is no need to risk anything for the sake of the gospel because we do not understand what we have been saved from. And without that recognition of being saved, that realization of His glory, then we will refuse to give up anything. If it costs me something, the only reason I am going to pay for it is if I believe in it.

Now I need to ask myself, do I truly believe in Jesus? And if so, how would I do in the circumstances of Abraham? Because, if what He says is true, the costs of following Him in my life are going to be just as great.

And if that’s the case, I am going to be needing a lot more convincing before I start giving up what I cherish so much; my safe, comfortable, nice, and completely lifeless religion that serves ME so well.

It’s time for a change, but it’s so hard to believe it…

So hard…

Over Coffee and a Vacuum...

I have been, for a long time now, taken a break from writing any sort of thoughts, choosing to instead lay dormant. I found myself unmoved to write and unwilling to look for the inspiration that is necessary to put words on paper. That is, until I had some coffee that fateful Sunday afternoon.

I was out with some friends for dinner one September afternoon, and after deciding that I could not afford a meal to warm my belly, decided to go with the world renowned cup of java to loosen up my bones. It was over this meal that many topics were placed in front off the audience for conversation, most of which pertained to the subject of sports; specifically the Red Sox ability to consistently loose focus before going into the playoffs. But as things normally do when a group of Christians go out for a meal, the conversation shifted to discussing things about the church, and well as per usual mainly things that frustrated people about the church. In the midst of the regular mumbo-jumbo that we all (myself included) spew out about the church there was a debate on going about people who make differences in the world, namely Bono. What was being argued was that on one side people wanted to believe that the man really did make an impact on this world, while the other side demanded evidence; which of course in a conversation of this magnitude – dinner with friends- none could be presented.

After we were all finished, I scurried on home to help clean the house for the company we were having that evening, and found myself with a firm grip on the vacuum. Now I do not know about you but I find that in those moments when I am doing nothing more than grooming the carpet that my mind drifts to the outer regions of nowhere and an opportunity for deep thinking presents itself.

And there it was, Bono, our hero - the man whom Scotty Dean would probably call a saint if you gave him the microphone. Now I am not really interested in whether or not you think Bono has done good in the world – but I think you are foolish to say that he has no influence – and on the same hand I am interested.

It occurs to me that we as Christians think we are in need of a leader. We long for that hero to show us how to live our lives, to take us out of our lukewarm beds and show us what ‘making our faith real’ is all about. And so we search all over the world in search of this person who meets a billion other people’s prerequisites of what a good leader should be. And we then inevitably find ourselves sitting over dinner claiming that the millions of dollars raised, and countless lives that have been altered by a suggested hero, does not quite cut it.

And then, during the back stroke of the vacuum that groomed that rug oh so well, I realized that we were not really looking for a hero, we were looking for Jesus. Think about it. How many times have I found someone who longed for change, a willing leader who was asking me to follow him or her, how many times have a critiqued one of them about; their hair, social drinking habit, poor choice of words, oral communication, poor planning, children, or any number of things. We consistently find a way out of giving ourselves to a cause because the leader of that cause, or even the cause itself is flawed?

We want a real, live, PHYSICAL display of Christ to come and show us what needs to be done, and how to do it, because those words in the Bible that are so often misinterpreted do not seem to be cutting it. And frankly, I know what they say, but let me see you live them out in perfection, and if you can do that then I will follow you. But until then, I am going to sit here in my – you name it; alcoholism; promiscuity; apathy; arrogance; - selfishness feeling sorry for myself and frustrated with the church.

We are selfish, and I will be the first one to admit it. I want Jesus to come here and show me what to do. I do not want to have to try and forgive that person, or clean pu my lifestyle, because is that really what He wants? He says yes she says no. So we say screw it, and until some one turns this grey world into something black and white I will not budge from pleasing my every selfish desire.

We don’t get a fleshly Jesus. And even if we did would it really fix things the way we think He would? He has given us each other, this broken and beat down fellowship of believers called the church. That’s are hero. Kind of a let down isn’t it? Here’s the thing the church was never made to function with one hero. It was made so that each one of us could play our part – whether that part that we play receives the credit we deserve or not – and together in wholeness minister as Jesus, in many ways never could. We need to stop being bitter and calling down those in leadership who have the courage to try and consistently fail, and back them up, playing our role, and give them the influence and support that we all need to succeed. Because I am sure you could look around and see that the church is not what it was supposed to be.

Good thing there is still hope. We’ve got time to make a difference, time to destroy our apathy and take up our roles. We just need to make sure that we somehow use the grace and the humility that’s freely given from Him and work together to make a difference. We are all broken; so let’s use each other’s pieces to fill in our holes.

Let us be heroes.