Thursday, January 25, 2007
On Being Jerks
Let's face it - as Christians we can be, and often are really big jerks. We fight about everything and often nothing. There has been some interesting looks into this fact recently. The BHT pointed recently to a post from the Oceanside United reformed Church on the question of why so many reformed people are jerks. Frank Lauterback came at the question from a different angle on GospelDrivenLife wondering why we struggle with new things. Both are looking into the essential question of why we are both quick and vituperous to condemn something different than us.
There are two basic strains from all of this. The first is that when we discover something, be it reformed thought, or whatever, we are like kids with a new toy - we think it is the best thing in the world and are just jerks about it. This usually resolves with time.
But if it doesn't, the second strain comes in - it is a defensivness, born generally of desparation, because we lack confidence in what we hold dear. This happens on an intellectual and practical level. Often we hold something dear while not fully comprehending it, thus we fail to understand its inherent truthfulness and therefore lack faith in its robustness. This lack of faith then expresses itself as gracelessness because we have not learned grace which is the first lesson genuine faith usually teaches us.
I often wonder why the apostles never wrote of Christ's nor their strategic plan for spereading the gospel. I think it is because they did not have one. Thier focus was not necessarily on "ministry" - but on their Lord, and working out their relationship with Him. Ministry was not the product, but the by-product thereof.
As I read these posts I cannot help but be convinced that if we adopted the same focus, if we made ministry by-product instead of product, that we might gain the faith, grace, and maturity necessary to stop being jerks. And thus stop impeding the gospel we so dearly seek to spread.
Related Tags: jerks, reformed, new, maturity, faith, grace
There are two basic strains from all of this. The first is that when we discover something, be it reformed thought, or whatever, we are like kids with a new toy - we think it is the best thing in the world and are just jerks about it. This usually resolves with time.
But if it doesn't, the second strain comes in - it is a defensivness, born generally of desparation, because we lack confidence in what we hold dear. This happens on an intellectual and practical level. Often we hold something dear while not fully comprehending it, thus we fail to understand its inherent truthfulness and therefore lack faith in its robustness. This lack of faith then expresses itself as gracelessness because we have not learned grace which is the first lesson genuine faith usually teaches us.
I often wonder why the apostles never wrote of Christ's nor their strategic plan for spereading the gospel. I think it is because they did not have one. Thier focus was not necessarily on "ministry" - but on their Lord, and working out their relationship with Him. Ministry was not the product, but the by-product thereof.
As I read these posts I cannot help but be convinced that if we adopted the same focus, if we made ministry by-product instead of product, that we might gain the faith, grace, and maturity necessary to stop being jerks. And thus stop impeding the gospel we so dearly seek to spread.
Related Tags: jerks, reformed, new, maturity, faith, grace
