The premise is simple: do we truly know God or have we simply believed the rumors we heard from our parents, teachers, pastors, friends, etc. Glenn’s (see how we’re on a first-name basis now!?) catalyst for the thoughts here began on “that Thursday” when he along with the rest of the staff and members of New Life Church learned, along with the rest of the world, that their beloved pastor, Ted Haggard had fallen. The hard-to-ask questions and harder-to-come-by answers led him to question pretty much everything he believed and how he had acquired his faith.
It’s a difficult thing for a man to be stretched in his faith in such crisis...no doubt about it.
I’m just glad there are men around willing to be honest with their difficulties and questions and let the rest of us in on their journey.
A few of the standout quotes so far really speak to me about our “Christian” culture, and just how Christ centric it really is....or isn’t.
Speaking of the difficulty to explain the fact that we believe “obedience begets blessing” and yet there is still pain/suffering/etc, in the world, he says,
“There are things in life beyond our control. And God is the first among them. God will not tolerate being used as an instrument to control our lives. Obedience isn’t some sort of magic code, an “Abracadabra” that moves God to action--or worse forces Him to action.”
and further...
“There are some things only God knows and understands. To deny as much is to have reduced God into our image.”
Yep. I’m challenged by this....
Do I believe in an “obey=blessing” formula?
Do I think that my action can in any way force God to act?
Or do I truly believe God is true, and obey, no matter the outcome or response to my obedience?
Anyone else wanna wrestle with this with me?
This is such a hard thing to wrap my mind around. Especially when there are examples of God blessing obedience and punishing disobedience. IE- Caleb and Joshua enter the promised land, everybody else under 20 dies in the wilderness (or was it desert?). The disciples obeyed and were eventually all martyred. But can we *make* God do anything? Of course not. But that's the silly theology that's propagated when you look at things from our materialistic western worldview. That the only blessings are material blessings. That our faith somehow insulates us from sickness/poverty/suffering. I think that I have too many words on all of this to sum it up here but I'll try.
ReplyDeleteLetting go of the need to control our life and our circumstances frees us to let God's plan really be fulfilled in our lives. Whatever that is. We can't force Him to act but we can keep His plan from being carried out through disobedience, sin, etc. He certainly does bless obedience...but not necessarily by doing what we want Him to.
Nice to talk to you again...Amy :)
Because there is no examples of "obey and be cursed", Obedience has to beget blessing. It's more centered on the obedience to His heart, not to our understanding of what we think that He wants from us. I heard a preaching this weekend saying that the more that we pursue knowing God's truth, the more our perceptual reality changes. I agree with you Amy that blessings cannot surely be limited to material possessions, but extended to even God smiling down upon us. That one day will be enough for us to continue as babes following our Father seeking his smile, His approval, His likes and dislikes, instead of our own.
ReplyDeleteAs far as I can recall, the only action that we take that forces God to act is when we stray. I say that He cannot help the inner "shepherd" in himself. He has to act out of His pure love for his children, his sheep. Baaaaa
Loooove this book and Packiam's ability to pull out scriptures that I would've overlooked! Awesome book!
ReplyDelete