"How is it we're like that, so zealous to put on outward, heroic shows of loyalty for the faith and yet so reluctant to set aside our own agendas and do what Jesus wants?
Our zeal is misdirected. Paul reminds us, 'The sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God' (Romans 8:7-8).'
We need to transfer our zeal from outward things to inward spiritual things. We need to be less willing to cut off ears in Jesus' name (Ed: Matthew 26:51-52) and more willing to humble ourselves by going into our prayer closets alone with God to get his agenda for our lives." - Keith Green, If You Love The Lord
As humans, we tend to be given to great acts of attention and glory. Part of it, I suppose, is simply the fact that many crave the public notice and resulting feedback (by my naming, The Age of Attention). Part of it - something I suffer from greatly - is that buried urge to do acts of great glory, covering one's self with nobility even in sacrifice (there is a reason that the great heroic epics survived as long as they have). And perhaps part of it is simply the feeling that we need to be doing something - anything.
It is not that we are not to do anything, suggests Green. It is that we are to do the right things.
We know the story of Peter above, defending Christ (as he saw it), perhaps in his mind doing his part to bring God's kingdom to earth by defending the Messiah. But Christ rebukes Peter, reminding him that those that live by the sword die by it and that - if He really is the Messiah - then God could send 12 Legions of angels in a flash. What Peter forgets in that moment is that - earlier, when Christ had asked him to come and pray with him, a direct request - Peter fell asleep.
Too often we do what we think God wants us to do and not what God actually wants us to do.
How hard - and how humbling - to submit ourselves to God and follow His instructions.
Yes, sometimes they are not clear to us - but there are plenty that are plain as day. Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. Love others the way God loves you. Grow in love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Pray at all times. Be thankful in everything.
It is not a mystery. But in order to follow these orders, we have take the first basic step of humbling ourselves before God and admitting that His agenda, not ours, is what we will be about.
amen, brother
ReplyDeleteThanks, Anon.
DeleteA well thought out post TB, so much of Christianity is based on love, love of others rather than yourself. That love your enemies is tough one for me though, much work needs to be done there by me....:)
ReplyDeleteThanks Nylon12. Loving oue enemies remains a great challenge to us. And praying for our persecutors? Even more challenging...
DeleteMy news feeds are full of “heroes” basking in the media’s attention and glory for simply doing the job they were trained.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Nylon12, much work needs to be done on loving our enemies.
Ed, wiser minds than I have noted that one of the results of a culture where everyone gets a prize for effort alone is the expectation that everything should be noticed
DeleteYour comment (and Nylon12's) make me think I need to ponder loving our enemies more...
I, also, am working on ‘loving my enemies’. Although I don’t have ‘enemies ‘, I have those that I do not care to have around me. My question is in order to love them, do I have to be around them?
ReplyDeleteThere's a difference between forgiveness and "forgetness." YOu can forgive a coyote for eating your chickens because, well, a coyote is a coyote. That being said, you can't have coyotes eating your chickens, so you fortify the coop, strengthening the weak spots and anticipating what the coyote might do next. It's the same way with people. Sometimes the best thing two people can have between them is distance...
DeleteI very much agree with Peteforester. We are required to forgive, but nowhere are we required to associate with people that drag us down. I think it helps to realize that biblical love is an action, not a feeling. I can do all the things in I Cor 13 without the emotion. They are actions I can choose to do without feeling like it.
DeleteRemember too, Paul's words in I Cor 15:33, "Do not be deceived: 'Bad company corrupts good morals.' ” We need to choose our associations wisely.
Anon - You make an excellent point in that many of us do not have "enemies" in the sense that we have individuals that are personally and directly seeking to ruin us. That said - at least as Christians - we have an Enemy, and the system that he has endorsed - the World, or as John calls it "lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh, and the pride of life" in First John. It is diametrically opposed to Christ and thus, by default we have a system that is opposed to us.
DeleteThat said - and to the super wise words of both Pete and Leigh above - there is no need for us to inherently associate with our enemies. We are called to be examples, not targets And some of that separation comes naturally: If I am about the things of Christ, often people fall away of their own accord.
Pete - Agreed. We are called to be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. There may be people that actively seek out those sorts of relationships, but it seems to me to be a calling, not a requirement. Without protecting the coop - or the ekklesia in this case - we put everything at risk.
DeleteLeigh - The longer I go, the more I find my associations sorting themselves out by themselves.
DeleteMost of us overthink this, TB. When you choose to follow Jesus Christ, you can rest assured that you are where you are, when you are, who you are, and HOW you are for a reason; GOD'S reason. Many of us go through life feeling we've done nothing for God, perhaps working a menial job and living a "mediocre life" for decades with "nothing to show for it."
ReplyDeleteThere used to be a commercial on TV for "Sperry Topsiders;" a non-slip shoe used primarily aboard boats. It shows a sailboat race with the crews frantically going about what they need to do to win the race. No one slips. No one falls. No one ends up in the drink. At the end, the narrator says "We'll never know how many lives we've saved." So it is with us and our lives. Until we're reunited with God, we'll never know who WE'VE saved. We'll never know who WE'VE influenced. All we need to do is follow Jesus Christ, doing what's expected of us by Him. HE will take care of the rest!
Pete - If you look at the definition of "Overthinker" in the dictionary, you will find a picture of me. Really. I do it all the time.
DeleteOne of the realizations that I have had over the recent years is the fact that likely I - and most people - live ordinary lives that hardly seem to have impact, or at least impact that we can see. But to your point, we only see the under-stitching from here; God sees the whole pattern.
It has certainly helped me to try to view everything I do in a new light.
Think of those that hate God and why. Then think about Pride month.
ReplyDeleteJohn, all I can see in my mind as I see all of this is a crowd shouting "Crucify Him! Crucify Him! We have no king but Caesar."
DeleteOuch. Your post is the fifth such message that I have received today on the same subject. Methinks tis a Heavenly heavy boot coming my direction. Time to get out of my head and onto the One who deserves it.
ReplyDeleteCJ
CJ - Any such repeat message was not intended and is purely accidental on my part.
DeleteBut yes - the "multiple messages on the same subject" happen to me more often than I care to admit.
Excellent post. I have to say that I think this gets somewhat easier as we get older. Partly because zeal begins to mellow out as our energy levels change. Plus, if we're being honest with ourselves, we reflect back and see how often our intense efforts at doing something was really just spinning our wheels, so to speak.
ReplyDeleteSo much of it has to do with motive. Before I act I've learned to ask myself this question. Oftentimes my motive has to do with Self and then I abandon the idea. I can start or support a big ministry, or do something I consider heroic, for example, but if my motive is wrong, then it's as valuable as wood, hay, and stubble.
For me, it goes back to the concept of being versus doing. I see more in Scripture about being kind, gentle, patient, thankful, content, faithful, thoughtful, generous, forbearing, forgiving, etc., than I see about doing great deeds and acts. Not very glamorous, but somehow it's a relief to know I have something to apply to every situation.
Leigh - The number of times I look at the great efforts I poured into things when I was younger only to see them collapse into nothing now is staggering - if anything, it makes me much likely to try anything grand.
DeleteMotive is the correct starting point. I still struggle with the idea of why I am doing something; if you recall, it was this very thing that was brought to my attention during my training in Japan this year. And just in general, I am a sucker for doing the "heroic", while ignoring the ordinary.
That is a great note about being versus doing - with "being" right, we cannot "do" right. And I suspect much fewer of us are called to great deeds than ordinary acts of being Christ to others.