Am I okay with being unknown?

Today, I wanted to let Oswald Chambers do most of the talking through his May 1st entry in "My Utmost for His Highest."  -

Faith— Not Emotion

We walk by faith, not by sight —2 Corinthians 5:7

"For a while, we are fully aware of God’s concern for us. But then, when God begins to use us in His work, we begin to take on a pitiful look and talk only of our trials and difficulties. And all the while God is trying to make us do our work as hidden people who are not in the spotlight. None of us would be hidden spiritually if we could help it. Can we do our work when it seems that God has sealed up heaven? Some of us always want to be brightly illuminated saints with golden halos and with the continual glow of inspiration, and to have other saints of God dealing with us all the time. A self-assured saint is of no value to God. He is abnormal, unfit for daily life, and completely unlike God. We are here, not as immature angels, but as men and women, to do the work of this world. And we are to do it with an infinitely greater power to withstand the struggle because we have been born from above.

If we continually try to bring back those exceptional moments of inspiration, it is a sign that it is not God we want. We are becoming obsessed with the moments when God did come and speak with us, and we are insisting that He do it again. But what God wants us to do is to "walk by faith." How many of us have set ourselves aside as if to say, "I cannot do anything else until God appears to me"? He will never do it. We will have to get up on our own, without any inspiration and without any sudden touch from God. Then comes our surprise and we find ourselves exclaiming, "Why, He was there all the time, and I never knew it!" Never live for those exceptional moments— they are surprises. God will give us His touches of inspiration only when He sees that we are not in danger of being led away by them. We must never consider our moments of inspiration as the standard way of life— our work is our standard." 

This is very true for me.  I must always be very critical of myself personally and my motives.  I am very addicted to emotions and I always want the emotion of happiness and elatedness.  If they are not present, then I am bored.  I think that I must always have the inspiration of God at my back.  However, it will never happen that way and it is a sure sign of immaturity on my part to demand it.  It is a sure sign, as Chambers aptly noted, that I am seeking something other than God himself.  And what usually brings those emotions of inspiration?  They usually occur when something good happens in my life.  That is goodness based on my definition of goodness.  It is good for me to be rich.  It is good for me to be healthy.  It is good for me to be famous and well known.  It is good for me to obtain and maintain a job.  It is good for my stocks to rise because the Dow soars.  It is good for me to have a wife and several children.  And yet, when my job is lost, family is lost, riches usurped, and health in jeopardy, I somehow think this is not God's will for me because it makes me feel bad.  And if it makes me feel bad, then it is surely not good.  

No!  If we believe in an all powerful, controlling, and knowing God, then we must be prepared to reconcile our "current situation" with the fact that it is God's will.   We usually try to garner sympathy from others by pointing to how well we have been living. But, if we honestly critique our lives, we will see that what is happening to us is just what is needed to bring us into alignment with God's way.  We may not like it, but we most assuredly will have to agree that what is happening in our lives is for the greater good.  Paul writes in Romans 8:28, "And we know that IN ALL THINGS God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."  ALL THINGS means ALL THINGS.  That means through birth, death, health, sickness, marriage, divorce, job, no job, riches, and poor, God works for the good!  Yet, we continue to balk at this truth.  When we do so, we usurp God's omnipotence, omniscience, and omnipresence!  And that makes God a very little God indeed.  Do we really want a small God whose hands are tied behind his back at times? This is why walking by faith and not our mortal, limited, and finite sight is crucial, so very crucial in growing an authentic relationship with God.  May His peace be with you!

Controversy!

I was thinking today about what to write and I realized that I have a desire to be controversial.  Is there anything wrong with Christians being controversial?  Not if you're trying to imitate Christ! I read a book not long ago titled, The Imitation of Christ.  It's not on a recent best seller list because it was written in 1418 by a Dutch monk by the name of Thomas a Kempis.  It is considered one of the most widely read devotions to Christianity.  It is a product of the German-Dutch school of mystical thought.  Now before anyone gets too spooked, mysticism was and is the earliest form of pure Christianity.  It came before Catholicism, before the Reformation and all the different "religions" and before all the various ideologies and man made doctrines.   I realize the word mystical somehow brings up thoughts of magic, but that is not the intended meaning of mysticism as it relates to 1st and 2nd century ascetics.  These folks were so devoted to God and Jesus that they spent their whole lives in the desert "communing" with God.  

So, back to the original question.  Is it "wrong" to be controversial in Christianity.  It is if you are being controversial over matters that are not based in spiritual truth.  For example, attempting to make Jesus gender neutral.  However, Jesus was a "lightning rod" during his ministry.  He was provocative, controversial, and progressive.  He made many enemies by claiming to "forgive sins" and grew to be hated by the scholars and scribes of the Hebrew Bible so much that they carried out his murder and crucifixion.  Yet, we are called to "be like Christ."  What does that look like?  Well, if history is a good guide, we are supposed to be just as controversial as Jesus was.  We should be proclaiming truth no matter the consequences.  Even to the point of being hated and ridiculed by the biblical scholars of today.   Yet, we must be very careful here or we can become self-righteous and bent on pointing fingers for the sake of taking the focus off of us.  If we are to be controversial, we had better have our "own house" in order.  We had better be trying to live just as Christ lived, all the while knowing that we will never reach that level of perfection.  That means that we must rise on bended knee, walk with humility all day long, and retire on bended knee.  

However, it is a charge that has been left for us by Jesus.  He makes it clear through the "Great Commission" that we go out into the world and make disciples, just as he did.  When we accept things passively from those who have been trained in religious and biblical matters, then we are being lazy and placing too much authority in man and not enough authority in God.  We only need to remember who Jesus was "fighting" against during his ministry to reach this conclusion. John the Baptist called the Pharisees and scribes "broods of vipers."  Jesus called them "hypocrites."  So, we too, must at the very least take the direction that has been given us by pastors, preachers, priests, and the like and verify it through our own study of scripture.  I say all of this not to create an adversarial mind set toward your pastors or church leaders.  No!  Not at all. I say this because we are all human, pastor or not, and all humans sin, every single one of us.  No man is perfect, so we must go to the Author and Perfecter of Life in order to obtain truth when things are unclear.  Pastors and church leaders are our guides.  They point to "the way" and it is up to us to walk in "the way."  Even some of the greatest climbers need guides because the guides know the terrain.  However, that doesn't mean that the climber not train and do his own homework.  Just the same, we need spiritual church leaders to guide and direct us because they are familiar with the terrain.  Yet, we need to do our homework too!  

In closing, I will cite one personal example.  I am in the process of reading Joel Osteen's, "A Better You" and I am doing so not because I am a fan of his style and teaching.  I am doing so because I need to know what is so captivating in his message that millions of people flock to buy his books and to hear his message in his mega-church in Houston.  The title alone is something to think about.  I know that when someone plays upon my ego by using words like "you" and "me", it makes me feel good.  Yet, the resounding message over and over in the Bible is about taking care of "His sheep" and He will give you rest.  Biblically speaking, we are to decrease so that He may increase. I am charged with "making disciples" and being "the least of thee."  Jesus washed the feet of His disciples and they did not understand the act.  They were too busy jockeying for position to be at "His Right Hand."  They thought in "I" and "me" terms and Jesus thought in "you" and "we" terms.  The prosperity movement within evangelical circles has rightly been challenged by some of the leading Christian thinkers of today like Rick Warren and John Piper.  It is one area where "truth" has not been the guiding force behind the message.  True prosperity is a spiritual prosperity in which the peace of God flows in and through you during times of plenty and want.  True prosperity is when I have reached such a humble state that my own rights, wants, and needs are an afterthought.