Answering the BIG QUESTION

So last week I posted a question about God’s blessing in our lives. It stimulated some very helpful discussion and I have continued to process and think about this question. How much of what I do determines how much God blesses me? As I thought about it I went to Matthew 5 and the Sermon on the Mount and specifically The Beatitudes. The word blessed according to Strong’s translates as happy. But I found this definition lacking because I can be blessed but not feel happy. According to D. A. Carson in Gaebelelien’s Expositor’s Commentary on Matthew (half the audience probably just checked out), the reason that happy is lacking is because the word is not expressing some inward feeling but rather the fact that from another point of view we have received favor from God. So to start off, blessing is in essence favor from God that then results in happiness in the soul’s of those who have received this blessing. Of course, God’s blessing are manifest in many ways, but most importantly by the fact that God has reached out to us as his most prized creation and made a way for us to experience a relationship with him daily through his son Jesus Christ.

That is the epitome of blessing as if it weren’t enough there is so much more that God blesses us with. The Church, a community of believers who we walk with and praise God with and help each other. The institutions ordained by God like the family and government even the economy. And of course all the prized material possessions that we as humans have the opportunity to experience while here on earth. There is so much more though. All good things come from God and are his blessings to us.

So how does this help to answer the question? I believe that it does in fact start with our belief. What do we believe about God and what he has done for us? But out of that belief we must act. You cannot separate belief and activity. But it does START with belief. So that’s where I am at for now. But I’d love to hear what others think too.

Big Question

So I’ve been battling with this monumental question:

How much of God’s blessing in our lives is dependent upon our behavior?

Swing away…

Culture: Create v. Dictate

Jud Wilhite’s new book Eye’s Wide Open arrived last week. Thanks to Jud and Lori and Ben Zimmerman I was fortunate to recieve an advance copy on the premise that I would blog and review it as much as possible. I got to page 86 and had to stop. What I read has challenged me. Here’s what’s got me “all shook up”*:

As priests, we are responsible to each other and to our culture to encourage, to challenge, to walk alongside one another on this journey with Jesus. God wants to use you to make an impact for Him each day by serving as a reconciler, as a go between for other people and Himself.”

As a Christian leader (pastor at a church) I am constantly bombarded by the question/charge that as Christians we should be creating culture. But that’s not what I think it’s all about and Jud has helped me understand more completely how it works. Christianity is counter-culture, in that regard the culture that we create should not look at all like what the world has to offer. Right? I understand relevance. I understand meeting people where they are and not waiting or expecting them to come to us. But culture? Seems to me the expectation is that Christians should be the driving force behind art, design, media, what’s in and what’s out. As if everyone should be naturally drawn to or gravitate to all things Christian because we did it and God is on our side.

So what does this have to do with the book? I believe that knowingly or unknowingly Jud has shown us that Christianity speaks to culture, it serves culture as another option. Christianity IS the lifeline to a culture bent to self-centered loneliness. As Christians we all serve as priests intent on serving and loving others as beacons of God’s love and grace. How can we be beacons of God’s love if we are more focused on trying to create culture than we are representing him? I also believe this speaks against the temptation of shallow Christianity focused more on culture than on priesthood.

Preisthood. Thanks for reintroducing me to that word Jud.