Wednesday, November 10, 2010
On Being Human
Mark Roberts on Corinthians:
One is selfish, but the beyond that we reduce the other to non-personhood, or in God's case, non-deity.
What fascinates me is that we seem to be building our society and our churches around this form of non-acknowledgment of existence. We want to make mechanical that which is highly personal. One of the problems I have with the mega-church is that it reduces the individual to something less.
But then, it also reduces God to something less - something that demands less of us - or at least we think so because we think we are demanding less of "it."
However, nothing could be further from the truth. "It" has already given more than we even know to demand. "It" has died on our behalf.
How dare we forget.
Some of the Corinthian Christians had been so focused on their own needs and desires that they forgot, not only their sisters and brothers in Christ, but even the Lord. Thus, in chapters 8-10, Paul redirects their focus, calling them to care for the needs of others more than their own desires. And he concludes his conversation by urging them to live for God's glory most of all.How often that is true - it is something beyond selfish - it's not just that we want God to provide, but we forget there is a someone there providing.
One is selfish, but the beyond that we reduce the other to non-personhood, or in God's case, non-deity.
What fascinates me is that we seem to be building our society and our churches around this form of non-acknowledgment of existence. We want to make mechanical that which is highly personal. One of the problems I have with the mega-church is that it reduces the individual to something less.
But then, it also reduces God to something less - something that demands less of us - or at least we think so because we think we are demanding less of "it."
However, nothing could be further from the truth. "It" has already given more than we even know to demand. "It" has died on our behalf.
How dare we forget.
Technorati Tags:personalization, mechanism, graditude
Generated By Technorati Tag Generator
