Before the site changed I had a few blog postings, all of which is mirrored on my main blog: In Search of Wisdom. This is the latest couple of entries, a ranting if you will about the general state of the Church, here's the full post:
Late Night Right
This is just a rant, my feelings pulled out about things that are going on. I don't like church meetings. I like the people, I like talking. I don't like getting together and pulling out our bibles in a large group so we can discuss what we should be doing, or what we can do better in our lives. I don't think it's healthy at all. I think we spend to much time sitting around in our groups talking about how good things could be instead of actually having a relationship. We'd rather throw around intellectual ideas and contemplate the goodness of what we are thinking of doing, and how it will touch God's heart. But when it comes time to act, to show our Righteousness, our Faith, what do we do? How often do we talk about God even with our Christian friends? Isn't that what drives our lives, or do we live for something else? Who are we to call ourselves christians in the first place? Are we even little Christs? Do we act like it, preach it, Do we even believe it? If we believed it wouldn't we be walking in the God given power we see in scripture? Are we ready to even harness the spirit? How many of us have dedicated our lives to the point where we will actually give up some time and seek the spirit. I don't mean like get up and read our bibles in the morning for ten minutes or have a nice little scheduled prayer time. I mean how many of us see that God wants us to grow in an area and then specifically pray for hours, or DAYS about it without ceasing. When was the last time any of us fasted? I don't mean give up a little time in our lives, I mean fasted, secluded ourselves away from everything that we might desire and simply sought the Lord. Prayed, read through scripture, prayed, talked with the Spirit. Let him consume our very being. re these things we do on a regular basis? Have we learned to do things things when the Lord prompts us to? Are not these the tools that God has given us to hear his voice, has He not shown us and taught us both in the Spirit and through scripture? I guess it really comes down to our Will. Do we really want to give up all the other gods in our life and seriously consider letting God be the only god. I don't think we actually understand what a god is, I don't think we understand what worship is.
What are some things we need to change in our lives so we can focus more on the Lord? Surely these things don't happen overnight do they? Well if Jesus can heal a blind man and he sees immediately, I think we can change our behavior overnight. If Jesus can tell a man to get up and walk and he immediately walks, I think we can commit to letting God be the true ruler over our lives. Is He the true ruler now? How many decisions do we make in a day without even giving any thought to what God desires for us? Even over the simple things such as where we eat, or when we get up in the morning. I was reading a little about trust earlier this week it was quite good so let me share a little bit with you. If a small child began to hide away bits of food after dinner every evening, and the parent found out wouldn't they be appalled? If the child was hiding away food for later it would not be normal at all! It would show that they didn't actually trust their parents to provide for them, like parents do. But aren't we like that Child? Don't we store away provisions or maybe not give out what the Lord has given us for the day because we want to make sure we have enough for ourselves tomorrow? Don't we live thinking that we need to save up for tomorrow on our own? Do we truly trust that the Lord will give us the things that we need for the day today? Or are we so ingrained into a cultural mindset that the only way to be financially stable is having a nice bank account with money in it that will get you by? Don't get me wrong the Lord does provide and it is a good thing to save money for different things. What I'm asking is, do we have a tendency to let that savings go out of control, and in doing so force us to be stingy with our money when maybe the Lord would like us to give freely as needed where we see. It goes beyond that in my mind, not only do we give money but are we willing to call up friends and family and share our passions with them, or are we so stuck in a 'bible study' mindset that we can't do anything relating to the Lord and those we are friends with until we come together on a designated night or morning. I think it's rubbish that we don't actually talk with each other daily, not everyone to everyone. But those we call friends or are more close to. I think we don't understand true friendship, we hold our time selfishly, and kill ourselves in the process. Our culture is more obsessed with doing things, having a visual experience, being entertained that we just like to flow along in it. Okay I want to be entertained to... But in all of it I think it may be better to forgo all of it. Just throw the whole entertain me thing out the window and start having real meaningful relationships with those around us. How many close friends do we have?
I realize that all of us have different strengths and weaknesses and different areas where we can grow in the Lord. This is mostly from my point of view and the things I see going on in the church as a whole, not just the small groups that I am a part of, not just my own life but definitely them to a large degree, but I think these are issues that we need to confront as a whole. Not to bash them intellectually or figure them out. But because until we start being like Christ we can't change the World. Until we start living like we only want God and Him alone we can't hope to see his Kingdom established on this earth. Until we give of our lives and let God control us He can't trust us with the same power that He gave Jesus. I mean if we don't even trust Him very much, why would he trust us to do good? If we don't commune with God, communicate with Him about everything, why are we so intent on demanding things from Him? I realize we are to ask for things, but that assumes we know what to ask for. And even then it means that we need to relate with him. How many of you would ask an acquaintance to buy something for you? Someone you only say hi to occasionally, wouldn't it be an awkward situation? Isn't that how we feel sometimes when we ask things from the Lord? That little awkwardness creeping up inside us, cause we aren't quite sure what we should and shouldn't ask for, We don't quite know How to ask for something, and many times we doubt that we will even get an answer. Honestly I really think a lot of this has to do with a simple thing called time. We don't know how to use our time well, we throw it away, we do what we want with our time. So lets use our time better, eh? I know I can. Anyhow I think that's all for my late night rant, Have a nice morning, or.. Day.
More Rant
I got an anonymous response to my last rant, which sparked up this one. The comment mentioned that relationships are not built overnight, and that we can't come into a full understanding overnight. And that we don't become Adults overnight.
I definitely agree with this, we don't know God and who he is overnight. But I think we bank too heavily on this fact. I think we have been ingrained with this western idea of how to live for God. I think we use it as a crutch, or an answer as to why we aren't actually doing God's work. The reason why I say this is because of how long we have been going to churches, and how long it takes a new Christian to be like us. I've seen new Christians come into churches and after about 6 or so months they seem almost indistinguishable from others who have been going there for their wholes lives. So when I'm presented with the idea that our walk is lifelong, and it takes a long time to grow, yet I see new believers that can be caught up into what is already going on in the church in a very short time, I'm quite skeptical at our progress in rediscovering the deep relationship that I see in the bible. How long did it take Saul to change into Paul? How long was it before he was intimately moving in the Lord? How long did it take the church at Thessolonica to be built? In Acts 17 it tells us that Paul was preaching in Thessolonica for 3 weeks, just three weeks and God moved through him to build a solid church. We even see in the book of Thesselonians that Paul declares that these people, who were brought together in a mere 3 weeks now have love that is an example to all the land. So much has there love been made known that it is being reported about to everyone.
I think we get caught up into wanting to know. Wanting to understand things. And we forget that this knowledge and revelation comes from Love. It comes from laboring in the Lord. I'm struck with the question in my mind, How come our love is not known in the whole region?
The disciples were discipled by Jesus for three years, and we have a teacher just like him, the Holy Spirit. So in my mind I simply can not accept the idea that the reason why we aren't moving in similar power of the disciples is because it's a long road, or that it takes a long time to grow into an adult. I feel it has everything to do with our desire for the Lord. If God trusts us, and he knows our heart, then he will allow us to move in his power and authority no matter how long we've been following him. If we have the faith, that is action derived from hope, God will move in big ways.
Late Night Right
This is just a rant, my feelings pulled out about things that are going on. I don't like church meetings. I like the people, I like talking. I don't like getting together and pulling out our bibles in a large group so we can discuss what we should be doing, or what we can do better in our lives. I don't think it's healthy at all. I think we spend to much time sitting around in our groups talking about how good things could be instead of actually having a relationship. We'd rather throw around intellectual ideas and contemplate the goodness of what we are thinking of doing, and how it will touch God's heart. But when it comes time to act, to show our Righteousness, our Faith, what do we do? How often do we talk about God even with our Christian friends? Isn't that what drives our lives, or do we live for something else? Who are we to call ourselves christians in the first place? Are we even little Christs? Do we act like it, preach it, Do we even believe it? If we believed it wouldn't we be walking in the God given power we see in scripture? Are we ready to even harness the spirit? How many of us have dedicated our lives to the point where we will actually give up some time and seek the spirit. I don't mean like get up and read our bibles in the morning for ten minutes or have a nice little scheduled prayer time. I mean how many of us see that God wants us to grow in an area and then specifically pray for hours, or DAYS about it without ceasing. When was the last time any of us fasted? I don't mean give up a little time in our lives, I mean fasted, secluded ourselves away from everything that we might desire and simply sought the Lord. Prayed, read through scripture, prayed, talked with the Spirit. Let him consume our very being. re these things we do on a regular basis? Have we learned to do things things when the Lord prompts us to? Are not these the tools that God has given us to hear his voice, has He not shown us and taught us both in the Spirit and through scripture? I guess it really comes down to our Will. Do we really want to give up all the other gods in our life and seriously consider letting God be the only god. I don't think we actually understand what a god is, I don't think we understand what worship is.
What are some things we need to change in our lives so we can focus more on the Lord? Surely these things don't happen overnight do they? Well if Jesus can heal a blind man and he sees immediately, I think we can change our behavior overnight. If Jesus can tell a man to get up and walk and he immediately walks, I think we can commit to letting God be the true ruler over our lives. Is He the true ruler now? How many decisions do we make in a day without even giving any thought to what God desires for us? Even over the simple things such as where we eat, or when we get up in the morning. I was reading a little about trust earlier this week it was quite good so let me share a little bit with you. If a small child began to hide away bits of food after dinner every evening, and the parent found out wouldn't they be appalled? If the child was hiding away food for later it would not be normal at all! It would show that they didn't actually trust their parents to provide for them, like parents do. But aren't we like that Child? Don't we store away provisions or maybe not give out what the Lord has given us for the day because we want to make sure we have enough for ourselves tomorrow? Don't we live thinking that we need to save up for tomorrow on our own? Do we truly trust that the Lord will give us the things that we need for the day today? Or are we so ingrained into a cultural mindset that the only way to be financially stable is having a nice bank account with money in it that will get you by? Don't get me wrong the Lord does provide and it is a good thing to save money for different things. What I'm asking is, do we have a tendency to let that savings go out of control, and in doing so force us to be stingy with our money when maybe the Lord would like us to give freely as needed where we see. It goes beyond that in my mind, not only do we give money but are we willing to call up friends and family and share our passions with them, or are we so stuck in a 'bible study' mindset that we can't do anything relating to the Lord and those we are friends with until we come together on a designated night or morning. I think it's rubbish that we don't actually talk with each other daily, not everyone to everyone. But those we call friends or are more close to. I think we don't understand true friendship, we hold our time selfishly, and kill ourselves in the process. Our culture is more obsessed with doing things, having a visual experience, being entertained that we just like to flow along in it. Okay I want to be entertained to... But in all of it I think it may be better to forgo all of it. Just throw the whole entertain me thing out the window and start having real meaningful relationships with those around us. How many close friends do we have?
I realize that all of us have different strengths and weaknesses and different areas where we can grow in the Lord. This is mostly from my point of view and the things I see going on in the church as a whole, not just the small groups that I am a part of, not just my own life but definitely them to a large degree, but I think these are issues that we need to confront as a whole. Not to bash them intellectually or figure them out. But because until we start being like Christ we can't change the World. Until we start living like we only want God and Him alone we can't hope to see his Kingdom established on this earth. Until we give of our lives and let God control us He can't trust us with the same power that He gave Jesus. I mean if we don't even trust Him very much, why would he trust us to do good? If we don't commune with God, communicate with Him about everything, why are we so intent on demanding things from Him? I realize we are to ask for things, but that assumes we know what to ask for. And even then it means that we need to relate with him. How many of you would ask an acquaintance to buy something for you? Someone you only say hi to occasionally, wouldn't it be an awkward situation? Isn't that how we feel sometimes when we ask things from the Lord? That little awkwardness creeping up inside us, cause we aren't quite sure what we should and shouldn't ask for, We don't quite know How to ask for something, and many times we doubt that we will even get an answer. Honestly I really think a lot of this has to do with a simple thing called time. We don't know how to use our time well, we throw it away, we do what we want with our time. So lets use our time better, eh? I know I can. Anyhow I think that's all for my late night rant, Have a nice morning, or.. Day.
More Rant
I got an anonymous response to my last rant, which sparked up this one. The comment mentioned that relationships are not built overnight, and that we can't come into a full understanding overnight. And that we don't become Adults overnight.
I definitely agree with this, we don't know God and who he is overnight. But I think we bank too heavily on this fact. I think we have been ingrained with this western idea of how to live for God. I think we use it as a crutch, or an answer as to why we aren't actually doing God's work. The reason why I say this is because of how long we have been going to churches, and how long it takes a new Christian to be like us. I've seen new Christians come into churches and after about 6 or so months they seem almost indistinguishable from others who have been going there for their wholes lives. So when I'm presented with the idea that our walk is lifelong, and it takes a long time to grow, yet I see new believers that can be caught up into what is already going on in the church in a very short time, I'm quite skeptical at our progress in rediscovering the deep relationship that I see in the bible. How long did it take Saul to change into Paul? How long was it before he was intimately moving in the Lord? How long did it take the church at Thessolonica to be built? In Acts 17 it tells us that Paul was preaching in Thessolonica for 3 weeks, just three weeks and God moved through him to build a solid church. We even see in the book of Thesselonians that Paul declares that these people, who were brought together in a mere 3 weeks now have love that is an example to all the land. So much has there love been made known that it is being reported about to everyone.
I think we get caught up into wanting to know. Wanting to understand things. And we forget that this knowledge and revelation comes from Love. It comes from laboring in the Lord. I'm struck with the question in my mind, How come our love is not known in the whole region?
The disciples were discipled by Jesus for three years, and we have a teacher just like him, the Holy Spirit. So in my mind I simply can not accept the idea that the reason why we aren't moving in similar power of the disciples is because it's a long road, or that it takes a long time to grow into an adult. I feel it has everything to do with our desire for the Lord. If God trusts us, and he knows our heart, then he will allow us to move in his power and authority no matter how long we've been following him. If we have the faith, that is action derived from hope, God will move in big ways.
