It's easy to see, especially with all that Jeff points out in Chapter Three, why so many people look at Christians and want no part of it. Where we were meant to display love, we display judgement or hypocrisy, in many cases. In this chapter, he points out how both keep us in a "religious" mindset and out of the relationship with Jesus that transforms our lives.
He quoted Brennan Manning with this: "The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians who acknowledge Jesus with their mouths and walk out the door and deny him with their lifestyle."
This notion builds on the last two chapters where the overall theme is showing the ways we have been more involved in religion than with Jesus. How can we expect to share the "good news" with others if it doesn't look like good news? The good news is that God loves us, sent his son to show us that, and we can have hope in life because of it - and hope in the party that is to come! Love, hope, party with God! I would be all over that if I didn't know anything about Christianity other than that.
Prayed a prayer? Check
Regularly attended Bible studies? Check
Had a necklace or bracelet with a cross or fish? Check
Actually loved, pursued, and enjoyed Jesus more than anything?
Well, not so much (page 47).
I realized how much of my life has been about checking off the "good stuff" I've done and not as much about knowing Jesus personally. There is no depth to my Christian walk if I'm not in relationship with Jesus. It is my belief that without depth, there is no true discipleship. The greatest teachers I have learned from had depth in the form of experience, authentic sorrow & joy, and above all else, a very connected relationship with God. Without them, my walk would not have also gained some depth. Discipleship would not have been as effective.
He goes on to talk about the parable of the prodigal son. We sometimes forget about the older brother in the story, but he plays an important role in understanding the entirety of the message. The father in this story loved BOTH sons. He invited BOTH sons to the party.
The younger son was foolish.
The older son was prideful.
The younger son was physically lost.
The older son was spiritually lost.
The younger son didn't want the father's love.
The older son thought he could earn the father's love (page 56).
I've been guilty of being both the younger and older son, in my life. But I love how Jeff wraps this up:
"Like both the older and younger brothers, we must learn that the joy of our lives is not in what we get from the Father, but how we get to be with him as his children. He's throwing a party and we are all invited" (page 57, underline added).
We can be with him always, because he promised to be with us always. And that is where transformation and relationship happen. That is the essence of following Jesus. Beautiful things can happen when we allow ourselves to be loved - we chose to love ourselves and others for no other reason that love itself. <3
No comments:
Post a Comment