Hot Buttons

Recently, I’ve read a couple harangues about some serious spiritual problems facing the American Christian. I always get tweaked by these. It’s preaching that I haven’t learned to appreciate yet. I feel like someone is stuffing their interpretation down my throat, and if I don’t agree, and become fully committed to the eradication of whatever evil is being preached against, then I must not be truly committed to the cause of Christ. Or I must be pitied as one of the deceived. Or if you’re hyper-Calvinist enough, this just goes to show you that I’m not really saved (wink, wink, nudge, nudge).

C.S. Lewis, in the Screwtape Letters claimed that Satan tries to convince us to be most on guard against dangers which we are least likely to fall into and lull us into complacency about the trap he sets at our doorstep. I won’t mention specific issues that are whirling around in our periodicals, pulpits, and personal conversations. Some of them are personal trials for some Christians, some are merely media hype, some are mostly conversations within the Christian sub-culture, or maybe just the post-modern Christian sub-culture. I don’t mean to invalidate any of these. I won’t try to press anyone’s hot buttons.

But I will take the other part of C.S. Lewis’s advice: what are we not talking about? What is Satan laying at our feet that we no longer notice, even when we fall into it? And it’s not some vague or subtle nuance of theology. And America isn’t just walking on the edge of it, we’re full bore gripped by it. Or maybe it’s just me. You decide. And feel free to let me know what you think.

Here’s my nomination for the point at which Satan has America by the throat: the 10th commandment, “thou shalt not covet”.

I got you coming and going, of course. If you disagree, I’ll just shout, “See, I told you we are desensitized to it!” And if you agree, well, then you agree. But all such tricks aside, the consumerist, materialist, “keep-up-with-the-Jones” American Dream flies in the face of God’s command not to want what your neighbor has, to not find your peace in what you own. Even Jesus speaks commentary on this in the sermon on the mount. “Don’t worry about all these things”, he says.

I feel like I’m drowning in this all the time. Before I started blogging tonite, I was surfing for a new video card for my PC. For $40, I can get a sweet little ATI Radeon 9200SE with 128M of VRAM. That was my happy thought for the evening, is that so wrong?

Yes, according to Moses and Jesus it is wrong. As I understand it, my God is a jealous God, suffering nothing to compete with Him for my heart. Whew, I don’t feel it. It is not intuitively obvious to me when I’m putting things before God. That’s when I become convinced that this is what Satan is hiding in plain sight.

I don’t have any answers, except that we need His help, and if we ask, He’ll give it.
God, help us!

- posted by Jor @ 11:44 PM -

 
Time Warp for Ozzie

I changed the date of this post to yesterday. I'm not just trying to confuse you. I meant to blog about this, but I wasn't ready yet, and I already have a blog for today... I mean tomorrow... never mind.

Oswald Chambers so totally RAWKS, DUDE!

The July 28th entry in My Utmost for His Highest is the one my good friend David Avilla credits with compelling him to use that classic as an everyday devotional tool. I'm a little more spotty with it, but I totally agree with him about the July 28th entry.

Process vs. Product

Mr. Chambers claims that God is process oriented. Any goal in our lives is a means to an end for God. He's trying to provoke a relationship. God is looking for the dependence, the trust, the faith of greater worth than gold.

I've been gripping the wrong end of this. Over the past 5 years I've become much more goal-oriented. And personally, it's been a big disappointment. These goals have been, and are, very important to me. My mood swings up and down with my ungrounded assessments of my future possibilities around these goals. This is like putting my hope in things (cf. tommorrow's entry). Only now its situations, or circumstances.

There's no doubt that producing a good education for my children is important. There's no doubt that helping more Russian orphans find homes in the US is a good thing. BUT, if my peace, my joy depends on this, then I'm looking away from my best lover, most faithful friend. I'm seeking the gift, not the Giver.

Who wants to be loved because of what you give someone, or what you make possible in their life. Wouldn't you rather be loved for who you are? I think God feels that way too. I love the line in Bruce Almighty:

Bruce: How do you make someone love you without messing with free will?

God: Welcome to my world.

My answer to Bruce's question is the answer to most questions about people: you love them. It's acting on that answer that's the challenge.

Anyway, read what Oswald Chambers said.
- posted by Jor @ 11:52 PM -