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| I realize that I have organized this series of articles around the theme of "bad Christians," which is perhaps a bit harsh. I do not mean to be harsh, and I rarely write about anything that I don't first see as a fault in myself. Not only that, I can only write from my own experience and struggles. If it is a benefit to anyone else, well then so much the better, as an Englishman might say. 2. We are too easily pleased. Many of us spend most of our time living for entertainment. We are saturated with it. Many of us find it difficult to make it through a week without gorging ourselves on all that is trivial, pleasant, and cheap. What is there to look forward to in a day without reading a magazine, watching a movie, browsing the internet, playing a videogame, listening to music, or just vegging out in some way? How often do we enjoy our work? How often do we enjoy the moment? How often do we enjoy the process? In his Pensees, Pascal says that we wander about in times that are not our own and thus, never actually live, but hope to live. Though it was written nearly 400 years ago, it is a devastating critique of our society. It seems that I am always working to get to somewhere. “If I work hard now, I can watch the game tonight.” I am often motivated by the thought of entertainment or leisure at the other side of work. Here’s a shock: you don’t need as much leisure as you think. But our society is fixed around the pursuit of it. Basically, we work hard so we can party hard. But make no mistake, this is a twisted state of affairs. Now, I am not one of those romantic revisionists who lament modern society as a gross perversion of the glorious morality of centuries past. People haven’t changed. It’s just that people used to spend seven days a week trying to survive, and now we don’t have to. So we pursue entertainment. As Christians, it is incumbent upon us to be counter-cultural in this area. I am distressed to find many of our homes deluxe media centers and our children eager entertainment gluttons. Can’t we see this as a problem? Pascal said, “If man were truly happy, the less he were diverted the happier he would be.” Take a moment to chew on that. Diversion, diversion, diversion, run, run, go, go! What are the implications of this reckless pursuit of diversion, this reckless pursuit of entertainment? Many of us must pursue diversion because silence is too fearful. Silence will strip us bare. Dare I face the ugliness of my own heart? Dare I face God himself in the solitude of an empty room? Dare I face my discouragement and fear? I must. As Christians, we are commanded to be meditative and thoughtful people. Meditation and contemplation are inseparable from the Christian life. (Consider the following verses: Joshua 1:8; Psalm 1:1-2; Psalm 4:4; Psalm 63:6; Psalm 119:15; Psalm 119:78; 1 Corinthians 14:20; Philippians 4:8). But our response is usually, no thank you, I’ll watch a movie. No! Please deliver us God! Can’t we see that all pleasure easily arrived at is cheap? But we often don’t see it, and so we are too easily pleased. There is no question that we need times of rest. There is no question that we need something to take pleasure in, a place to be fulfilled. But we have missed true rest and fulfillment when we scrounge the scraps from the world’s table of entertainment rather than feeding on the person of God himself. And don’t doubt it, God knows how we tick. All pleasure easily arrived at is cheap. God makes it hard; he makes it deep. Psalm 16:11 says, “In your presence is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” Are we willing to pursue that fullness of joy? I worry that many of us don’t know ourselves or our God because we have always turned back to cheap diversion when we see the desert of solitude in front of us. But the river of God’s fulfillment is on the other side of that desert. We are to walk through it whether it takes a day or a year. Our culture has posted signs all along the path calling us to turn back: “you’ve done enough! God would have met you by now! You’re only human, entertain yourself!” And often we turn back because we are too easily pleased. I would prefer the cheap and trivial rather than the deep and meaningful. An often-quoted passage from C.S. Lewis says it best: If we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that our Lord finds our desires, not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased. So choose your diversion wisely. Is it going to distract you from the “infinite joy” that is offered to you? Is it an attempt to escape? Face your feelings. Face your depression. Face your God. | | |
| Hello folks. If I have the time and the discipline, I will, God willing, be writing a series of articles and posting them here on my xanga. I value your consideration and feedback. I write to you as a part of the problem rather than an observer of it. I have the utmost respect for Atheists, Satanists, skeptics, detractors, and any other opponent of Christianity. We direct much violent criticism toward those camps, yet we are not in danger because of our opponents, and we often criticize them unfairly. Rather, if we are in danger, it is because we are bad Christians. A bad Christian is like an old dog that barks louder than all the other dogs on the block and keeps people up at night, but no one is scared of it because everyone knows it would never bite. In fact, its teeth were probably removed years ago. What is your favorite kind of soup? A bad Christian is like a perfect bowl of that soup, until you bring it to your mouth and find that it is ice cold. A bad Christian is like a brilliant book except for a nonsensical last chapter. A bad Christian is like Chicago with the lights off. Am I a bad Christian? The desirable answer is no. The truthful answer…. 1. We are materialistic A few months ago I found myself standing in line to buy a few textbooks at Lifeway Christian Bookstore here at Moody Bible Institute. I glanced to my left and saw a pleasant little display of featured items for sale. I did a double take when I read the words, “Inspirational socks collection.” Now, some of you may think it is wonderful that our country is so saturated with Christianity that we can worry about printing inspirational religious phrases on our socks. But I was disturbed. It wasn’t cute; it wasn’t inspiring. It was cheap and sad. Perhaps it was at that moment that the thought began to form in my mind that we criticize our culture about everything that hits as far away from home as possible and ignore many of the real issues. I was faced with the absurdity that we Christians criticize our culture while being entrenched within it. In fact, we are only able to criticize our culture while excluding ourselves by doing some remarkable feats of mental gymnastics. It goes something like this: “I am a selfish, physically oriented, materialistic, CHRISTIAN, but that unbeliever is a selfish, physically oriented, materialistic, HOMOSEXUAL. We latch on to the last identifying word and overlook the fact that we are uncomfortably alike. And so we criticize and complain, forgetting that we are in fact accusing ourselves. When was the last time we considered that materialism is a moral issue? Oh yeah, we know all about sex and lies and anger. We know all about sin. Really? When was the last time we considered the fact that materialism is a sin? Now don’t go and try to find the word “materialism” in the Bible. Though there are a few specific passages we can turn to, even more convincing is the whole counsel of the word of God, when read with an open mind. Verse after verse, thousands of them, emphasize the importance of the human spirit and the spiritual realm. God the Father himself is spirit. The soul is eternal, and is consequently more important than the physical body. The Bible makes it clear that to submerge the spiritual reality under temporal and materialistic concerns is blatantly sinful. If you want some concrete examples to chew on consider the following verses: Ecclesiastes 5:10-12; Isaiah 55:1-2; Amos 2:6; Matthew 21:12-13; Acts 8:18-20; 2 Corinthians 5:1-10; 1 Timothy 3:3; 1 Timothy 6:7-10; Hebrews 13:5; 1 John 2:15-17. Perhaps if you’re like me, you forget materialism is sinful, or maybe you’ve never even thought about it. This is because materialism is a dominant cultural value of the United States. We find it easy to speak out about certain moral issues that don’t touch us so closely, but we often leave disturbingly sinful practices untouched and unnoticed because they are so deeply engrained within us. It is a norm, an assumption, a given. If a society makes something appear normal and reasonable, simply the way things are done, then it is very difficult to gain the proper perspective on it. Throughout history, we have seen this pattern. The church goes along with sin largely because of an inability to see it as such. For instance, we are appalled by the idea that beloved reformers such as John Calvin and Martin Luther had a deep dark side. Calvin gave approval for the execution of the religious dissenter Michael Servetus, and Luther was virulently anti-Semitic. Though Calvin and Luther both attempted to make logical Biblical cases for their positions, the reality was more sinister. They lived in cultures that had very little concept of religious toleration and racial equality and Calvin and Luther were unable to see past these cultural values that were deeply engrained in them. Consequently, they distorted scripture, or ignored certain aspects of it (such as Luther’s famous desire that the book of James be removed from the cannon). I believe we are influenced by our culture in the same way. It is easy enough to realize that murder is wrong, but it is in these insidious issues of worldview and overall perspective of life that we can fall into error so easily. If materialism does not seem wrong, it is because our culture knows no other way of being. So the question remains, are we any less materialistic than the rest of our culture? Are we focused on advancing careers, good paying jobs, nice houses, expensive hobbies, etc.? I cant help but think that if we were to examine ourselves, very few of us indeed would have a clear conscience in regards to the possessions we have accumulated, the money we have spent, the goals we have aspired to, and the things we continue to focus on. What is okay for you to have and what is not okay? That is between you and God. But here is my thought: This issue of materialism is yet another area in which there ought to be a distinction between Christians and non-Christians. What if Christians in our country were recognized for their smaller houses, less expensive cars, less frivolous spending, and more frugal lifestyle? We’re not talking about being cheap or junky; we’re talking about stewardship. And what would follow from such a reality? A huge new flow of money to missionaries, urban America, Africa, Asia, and so many other places that desperately need it. | | |
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