Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Well, We ARE Sinners
Jollyblogger wrote a great post a while back that began:
Think about it. I know people that worship scripture instead of Who scripture is about. I know people that worship doctrine instead of that which doctrine was designed to define. I know people that worship the church instead of He whom the church was built to worship. I know legalists and I know do nothing gracists. I know people that worship the Holy Spirit and forget the rest of the Trinity. I could go on like this for hours, but you get the point.
This is why I am increasingly less enamored with calling myself an "Evangelical." There is much to admire in that label, but behind it is also a tendency to overemphasis on some aspects of the faith, in some instances to the point of idolatry.
The ministry of the Holy Spirit, enabled in our lives by the ministry of Christ, is nothing short of a total transformation. We are so afraid of that that we warp our very understanding of He that wrought that transformation. And yet what are we afraid of? Losing our identity? We have no identity to begin with!
My heart simply hurts when I realize how much we get in the way of God's good works, on ourselves and others, and that we do it with the tools that He has given us to further His name. The same hammer that can build a house can tear it down.
I think the world would b transformed beyond our imagining if we simply quit using the hammer to tear things down - if we just got out of God's way in the construction.
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God's greatest gifts can become curses and His highest virtues can become vices. So it is with grace and humility.And ended:
Don't get me wrong. Even if I were to become the most disciplined person in the world I understand that at the end of the day I would only have God's grace to thank for anything I have. Yet, grace can't be an excuse for irresponsibility and humility is improperly used if it becomes an evasion of responsibility.David makes a heck of a point about grace and humility in this post, but I am enamored with the larger question - how overemphasis on any aspect of our doctrine or church, or anything else warps that overemphasized thing into a sinful consideration.
Think about it. I know people that worship scripture instead of Who scripture is about. I know people that worship doctrine instead of that which doctrine was designed to define. I know people that worship the church instead of He whom the church was built to worship. I know legalists and I know do nothing gracists. I know people that worship the Holy Spirit and forget the rest of the Trinity. I could go on like this for hours, but you get the point.
This is why I am increasingly less enamored with calling myself an "Evangelical." There is much to admire in that label, but behind it is also a tendency to overemphasis on some aspects of the faith, in some instances to the point of idolatry.
The ministry of the Holy Spirit, enabled in our lives by the ministry of Christ, is nothing short of a total transformation. We are so afraid of that that we warp our very understanding of He that wrought that transformation. And yet what are we afraid of? Losing our identity? We have no identity to begin with!
My heart simply hurts when I realize how much we get in the way of God's good works, on ourselves and others, and that we do it with the tools that He has given us to further His name. The same hammer that can build a house can tear it down.
I think the world would b transformed beyond our imagining if we simply quit using the hammer to tear things down - if we just got out of God's way in the construction.
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