Much of what I see, that is called Christian today, is simply formulaic faith to make life easy, "blessed" and happy for the culture we call Christian. I know that's a big statement, but I wonder how many of us realize that most of the books in Christian books stores are about "How to" make everything work just right for us and make our lives comfortable.
How to have a happy marriage, how to lose weight, how to raise good kids, how to deal with depression....and on the list goes. With just the right formulas we can fix everything and life will be great! But that's not how life works, it's not about holding our tongues just right, doing the right things and then like the right formula, magically everything is wonderful and life is good.
Formulaic faith does not work! You can't just "confess the right things", have daily devotions, pray every day and be nice to people and expect God will "bless you".....whatever that means. (By the way, this phrase, "I am blessed", is a purely American idea. I've not heard it anywhere else.) But back to the topic...there is no formula to make everything perfect.....even when you do everything "just right" life goes wrong, you might get sick, you kids could "turn out bad", your marriage could fail....there is no magic to this.
We live in a broken world full of broken people and things go wrong, people sin, we still get sick, our kids still go crazy and make us crazy and once in a while a marriage partner says, "I don't want to do this anymore." When those times happen we naturally ask, I've heard it, "What did I do wrong???"
To be honest, as a loving parent you don't have to do anything wrong to have a rebellious kid. To be in a marriage there is no magic formula to make it work. It's hard work by two good people who both want to work on it. We still get sick, no matter what we say with our mouths. We still live in a broken world and there are no formulas to make this life "bump free perfect." It wasn't meant to be.
The question is this....when something goes wrong...are you looking for the right formula, the right book, the perfect solutions so everything will add up and life will be perfect or are you trusting God and resting in him even if the world around you falls apart?
Formulaic faith does not work. Trusting God with a host of questions and doubts in hand does. When things go wrong we don't need the perfect book, the ideal list of things to do, the perfect words to say, we need to sit at God's feet and trust him, rest in him, with all of our problems, all of our doubts, our rebellious kids, our broken marriages, our crumbling lives and simply say, "Lord, I don't know what to do but trust you. Will you help me?"
And with that simply prayer you have done the one thing that makes everything add up!
5 comments:
Good thoughts! My answer to this, because He made me a Pollyanna, is to count it all joy when...
Pain and trouble are part of life. I can not know when I am High but for the times I was low. To me that is what He promised when He said He would give me an abundant life.
"By the way, this phrase, "I am blessed", is a purely American idea. I've not heard it anywhere else."
That's absurd. Try searching the Bible. The word "blessed" -- in connection with God blessing someone -- Adam & Eve, Abram, Noah, Job, the poor in spirit -- appears all the time. If, for example, Abram acknowledged God's blessings by stating "I am blessed," he was behaving in a uniquely American fashion?
The American church has many problems. Acknowledging God's blessings is not one of them. Believing that some formula will lead to obtain a perfect, worry-free life is.
Well said Mike. Considering the situation going on in a major "Christian" organization from Illinois, this blog couldn't be more timely, as the formulas comprise a 3 ring binder and the end result has been catastrophic.
L. Murphy,
Thanks for your comment, but rather than "absurd" why not ask WHY I said that? I agree with you that God describes people who are blessed, he describes us as blessed. The Bible is indeed full of this, but what has changed in our culture is that when you hear someone say they are blessed it is almost always connect to success, reward, new job, great circumstances, PROSPERITY! The Bible calls his people blessed APART from any situation, even when all hell breaks loose in our lives we are still blessed, but we don't say it when those things happen....then we ask, "Why has God let this happen to me?" I've rarely heard, in the American culture, anyone who just lost a job, lost a child, heard news of cancer say, "Boy am I blessed!" So, please understand that I'm with you in the unpacking of it from scripture, but what I see in how we have redefined it in America is something completely different.
Thank you for your wise words, Mike. They are a blessing, and I am sharing:)
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