Monday, October 26, 2009

Thin Places

Thinness seems to be an obsession in our culture.

There are special diets to get thin. Or weight-reducing meal plans available for delivery to your door. Not to mention exercise workouts and weight loss coaches.

But until recently, I never had any help understanding thin places.

“Now hold on for just a minute! What in the world is a ‘thin place’”?

Interesting question! To find the answer, consider the Celts. Who are the Celts?

According to the Encarta Encyclopedia, the Celts were a people who dominated much of western and central Europe during the first millennium before Christ.

Recently I stumbled across an article that explained an interesting Celtic spiritual idea. The author was anonymous, but let me share the main ideas with you.

When we use the word ‘thin’ it is often to suggest the idea of weakness. Expressions such as ‘patience wearing thin,’ ‘thinned paint’ or that a novel’s plot was ‘thin’ are good examples.

Celtic spirituality, however, puts a completely different spin on thin,” said this author. The Celtics called something thin when the veil between our world and God's kingdom becomes transparent enough for us to glimpse God's presence near us.

Thin places, Celtics said, are those moments when one sees God's hand at work in our lives. Moments we stop and, however briefly, wonder if there is more to life than just this natural world. We wonder what lies beyond the grief, pain or boredom of our daily lives.

Places and moments can become thin when someone remembers your pain or offers a helping hand. Or when words of love arrive unexpectedly, a friend shares your tears or you enjoy belly-shaking laughter together.

Such times in our lives open a pathway to the core of our soul. They point the way to the satisfaction of a common yearning--the desire to be connected, to be a part of something greater, to be loved, and to find peace.

The message of the Bible points us to Jesus Christ as the only way to find the true answer to those yearnings. When we meet him through the pages of Scripture, we arrive at the ultimate ‘thin place.’

Our journey down that path begins when we come to God through faith in Jesus’ death on the cross for our sin. The Bible says, “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Speaking of God, Jesus said, “He who has seen me has seen the father.” In following Jesus, we are pursuing a relationship with our Creator God. That’s why Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

Jesus is the eternal connection. He is the door to a personal relationship with God.

When we serve Christ we also join him in his mission “To seek and to save the lost.” Jesus adds that he “did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

The amazing truth of the Bible is that through faith in Christ, we find the peace, purpose and meaning in life we have searched for our whole lives.

It’s not wrong to want to be thin. But in our pursuit of thinness, let’s be sure we don’t overlook the thin places that can bring us closer to God.

Listen to the Bible; it’s great for your soul!

Monday, October 19, 2009

Filtered Faith

Is your faith filtered?

Filters protect us in many areas of our lives. Oil and fuel filters protect cars from dirt. Email filters keep out messages we don’t want. Water filters improve taste by removing impurities.

Then there are the faith filters we use to protect our faith.

“Now hold on just a minute! How can faith be filtered?”

It’s easy to do. If we don’t agree with something, we can ignore it. True or not—it doesn’t matter. If it doesn’t feel right, we don’t like it--and that’s all that matters to us.

William P. Young helps us understand filtered faith in his book, “The Shack.” He observes somewhat cryptically, “Paradigms power perception and perceptions power emotions.”

A paradigm is a model we construct in our mind about how the world works or should work. For instance, “Good guys always win and bad guys always lose” is a paradigm.

Young adds, “Most emotions are responses to perception—what you think is true about a given situation. If your perception is false, then your emotional response to it will be false too.”

He concludes, “So check your perceptions, and beyond that check the truthfulness of your paradigms—what you believe. Just because you believe something firmly doesn’t make it true. Be willing to reexamine what you believe.”

Many people are afraid to examine what they believe. A fearful person’s natural response is to say, “You’ve got your opinion and I’ve got mine. And you’re not going to change my mind.”

When we talk like that we are acting as if there is no standard of comparison higher than us! And that is the height of pride.

The Bible warns us to beware of those who “measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves.” It says such people “are not wise.”

Religious people are often portrayed in the media as mindless robots programmed by others. Or as opinionated ignoramuses who ignore the obvious. In some cases that may be true. But don’t let that be you.

God encourages us to use the minds he gave us to examine the evidence, look for truth and then put our faith in what is true. To the skeptic he says, “Come now, let us reason together.”

Over and over Jesus said, “I tell you the truth” (some versions have “Verily, verily” or “Truly, truly”). Then, in one of his most famous quotes, he said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.”

Notice that it is not just any truth that brings freedom. Jesus is not speaking philosophically.

In the context he is speaking about truth that leads to salvation and freedom from sin. And it is only in listening to Jesus that we learn eternal truth leading to ultimate freedom.

Are you a truth-seeker? Or do you look only for evidence to bolster your dearly held beliefs? Like a sick man going to his doctor, only the truth can help us solve our real problems.

In “Hamlet” Shakespeare wrote, “This above all: to thine own self be true.” Being true to self demands we seek truth above all else. For only then can we live with a clear conscience. Only then can we be all God made us to be. Only then can we truly worship.

The people of Jesus’ day thought worship had to happen in a certain place. Jesus disagreed. He said, “God is spirit and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.”

In matters of faith, truth matters. So drop the faith filters and pursue truth all the way to Jesus.

Listen to the Bible; it’s great for your soul!

Monday, October 12, 2009

Religion or Relationship?

Does everyone need to “get religion”? Some say, “Yes.” But I disagree.

“Now hold on for just a minute! How can you say that? Isn’t Christianity a religion?”

In one sense, yes. Christianity presents a set of beliefs about the nature and worship of God.

But some have taken Jesus’ teachings and turned them into self-centered religious systems. Sadly, organized religions often ignore a basic truth of the Gospel (good news) of Jesus Christ.

A simple reading of the New Testament makes it clear that one goal of the Gospel is to help us make peace with God. For us to become God’s friends. To re-establish the relationship God had with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Not to turn us into religious rule-keepers.

That’s a point Timothy Keller makes in his book “The Prodigal God.” Keller notes that most religions operate on the principle “I obey, therefore I am accepted.” But the gospel operates on the principle, “I am accepted through what Jesus Christ has done, therefore I obey.”

Keller says, “Religion isn’t just a little different from the gospel; it is diametrically opposed.”

In the New Testament story of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15), Jesus shows us two basic ways people try to make themselves and the world work. Two different ways they try to relate to God.

One son rejects his father and chooses a path of self-indulgence. He lives for pleasure.

This son represents all who rebel against God. The ones most religions call “sinners.”

The other son in the story chooses a path of moral conformity. He focuses on keeping the rules. He tries to be very good. He obeys his father but doesn’t love or understand his father.

This son represents those who believe that, by keeping a religion’s rules, God will accept them. In fact, they believe he owes them for their obedience and loyalty.

Both groups think they are the only ones who are right. That if everyone would just live like them, we would all be happy. We would all get along.

But Jesus’ message to them is “You are both wrong. You are both lost and far from God.”

The Gospel declares that God is a loving, merciful father. He is waiting for the rebels to come to their senses, to come home and be restored to the family.

But he is also waiting for the “good” person to realize that God seeks not rule-keepers but sons and daughters. He wants children who delight to obey because they are loved and accepted.

Most religions are based on fear. They say, “Do these things or else you will be punished.”

But the gospel is based on love. It says, “For God so LOVED the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” It adds, “How great is the LOVE the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God.”

The mistake many people make is to think the Gospel calls them to be a good person—a rule-keeper—and that God is keeping score. After a while, they discover God isn’t very real to them. Faith becomes drudgery instead of a delight. They wonder if they’ll ever be “good enough.”

That kind of religion cannot transform your life. It doesn’t renew your life. But the gospel transforms and renews. Once you understand it, not only is your whole life re-oriented around a new set of principles—God becomes present in a way that transforms you from the inside out!

That explains the difference between a person who “gets religion” and a Christ-follower.

To a Christ-follower, all of life is worship. What Jesus wants is most important. John the Baptist summarized this mindset best when he said, “He must increase; but I must decrease.”

So instead of “getting religion,” follow Jesus. Believe in him and you will be a child of God.

Listen to the Bible; it’s great for your soul!

Monday, October 5, 2009

Religion Addict

Can a person be addicted to religion?

Andrew Farley was. Farley is a tenured professor at Texas Tech University and the author of “The Naked Gospel: The Truth You May Never Hear in Church.” The book deals with so-called Christian jargon or “Christianese” that people hear in some churches.

Farley says at one time in his life he did all the things he believed a good Christian should do. But he still felt miserable and depressed. Finally he realized he was trying to gain God's favor by becoming addicted to religion.

“Now hold it right there for just a minute! How can you be addicted to religion?”

Easy. The same way you get addicted to anything else. You try it, it makes you feel good, so you keep doing it. The more you do it, the better you feel about yourself—at least for a while.

Who could get addicted to religion? People who like their life ordered. They like rules. They like to know where they stand. Religion gives them a checklist and they can go down the list and either feel good or bad about their performance.

If you feel bad, religion gives you ways to compensate. Ways to punish yourself and be accepted. Say this prayer. Do this or that action to show you’re sorry. Penance.

Religion tells us that if we’re sincere enough and work hard enough, God will accept us. And that’s appealing to some. It’s almost like a contract: I do my part and God does his.

What sets the gospel of Jesus Christ apart from all religions is its message: God already loves you and he accepts you through Jesus Christ’s sacrificial death on the cross. God doesn’t want to be your boss. He wants to be your father and for you to be his son or daughter.

It’s simple. Jesus didn’t come to start a new religion. He came to make us friends of God.

After a person hears the good news about Christ a decision must be made: “Am I willing to give up trying to earn God’s favor and stop working for my salvation? Am I willing to accept the gift of forgiveness God offers to everyone through faith in Jesus Christ?”

If the answer is “Yes,” then you’re ready to give yourself to Christ. You’re ready to cross over the line of faith. To believe and trust in God. To become part of his forever family.

So if you will say, “Father accept me and adopt me, not because of what I have done but because of what Jesus Christ has done for me on the cross--if you will do that, then the Bible says you become a child of God. At that very moment.

Your other option is to pick a religion, stick with it and maybe even become addicted to it. Then hope you are good enough for a perfect and holy God to accept you. (What’re those odds?)

Perhaps some will say, “I opt out of religion. I don’t believe in a personal God.”

Fine. That’s your choice. God doesn’t force people to believe in him. But consider this: What atheists actually do is create their own religion with themselves as gods.

To say there is no God anywhere in the known universe means you’re omniscient—you know everything like God. And if you make the rules for good and evil in your life, that makes you like God. So what you have is a religion for one. And it can be very addicting!

So if you want to avoid the pitfalls of religion or atheism, listen to Jesus. He came to tell us about a better way that leads to peace and purpose. The way of faith in a loving and holy God.

I invite you to explore Jesus’ teaching for yourself. Pick up a Bible and read the book in it called “The Gospel of John.” Then, if you’re tired of religion, believe in Jesus and follow him.

Listen to the Bible; it’s great for your soul!

Lake Side Church of the Brethren

http://www.lakesidecob.org/

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