Double Dipping

I'm dumb. I write things on facebook sometimes that could easily be posted on here for those of you who are more likely to navigate this thing than facebook. Here are two recent ramblings of mine:

Best 401k Ever

I have been thinking a lot about the way that we live and share our faith. I think we have been guilty of a fundamental error in thinking. We have treated heaven as the goal of our faith. Think about it. We sing so many songs that talk about getting out of this world and getting a reward. Reward? Is that what it is? Seems to me that someone earns rewards, yet we also say that we cannot do anything to gain salvation. Interesting...

What then? How should we go about faith? Well, I think the answer is simple and one that is often given in jest in Sunday school and Bible classes at ACU: Jesus. Yes, that guy we talk about sometimes. Think about faith like a job. It's not one, it's a metaphor. Don't jump all over the analogy by taking it too far. Why do you get a job? Money, right? The answer is yes. Some of you will start to say fulfillment or purpose, but deep down you know that if the money were not there you probably wouldn't take it. Now, rarely do you start a career or job by thinking about how good the 401k is. The job is started for the paycheck.

Heaven is, by far, the best 401k ever. Forget retiring in Florida, we get to live with the King. Get excited, but stay focused. My question to you is: what's the paycheck? Now, it may be various things but here's what it should be:

"He has showed you, O man, what is good.
And what does the LORD require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God." -Micah 6:8

A relationship with God. We get so caught up in heaven that we forget the real point of grace. Grace was given to us, Christ died for us, not so that we could get into an exclusive (and holy) nightclub. We have been rescued from sin so that we can once again be in communion with God. That is the paycheck.

By all means, keep looking forward to heaven. However, do not let that make you lose sight of the real joy and excitement that comes from knowing and being known by the Creator, the Sustainer, the King, the Parent, the God who loves you.

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This Is Serious

I have been thinking about this for a while and tonight's lesson with the Hillcrest youth finally pushed me to write about it. Our faith is supposed to be serious. The following passage from Luke 9 has stuck with me for a while:

57As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, "I will follow you wherever you go."

58Jesus replied, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head."

59He said to another man, "Follow me."
But the man replied, "Lord, first let me go and bury my father."

60Jesus said to him, "Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God."

61 Still another said, "I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say good-by to my family."

62Jesus replied, "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God."

This passage seems pretty serious to me. Jesus doesn't seem to be making jokes as these people come wanting to follow him. I think that is the part of this passage that hits me the hardest. These people come to Jesus and say, "I want to follow you," and he basically tells them that they don't have what it takes. Now, I know I'm paraphrasing and probably oversimplifying a little, but when it comes down to it you can't deny that Jesus viewed being his disciple as a serious commitment.

When I look at how I have lived my life for the majority of my 20 years I can't help but feel selfish, whiney, and a poor excuse for a disciple of Jesus. I have loved him, and I have stayed away from doing the wrong thing. So what? I have not loved my neighbor, I have not been salt or light. I have been a good "church kid". I have been part of the family. Yet, as I look at the life of Jesus and see the people that he spent his time with and where he spent most of his time, I see that I have been living a cheap Christianity. I have been playing a game when this is all too real.

We talk about "fighting the good fight", being "soldiers of Christ", and putting on the "armor of God". All of these images are good and the first and last are straight out of scripture. But I don't think that quite gets at what we are called to do.

The battle is over. Victory already belongs to God. We are not fighting, we are not conquering, we are not vanquishing. We are cleaning up.

After every war there is a period of recovery, a time of reconstruction. We are the ones charged with that duty. The war has been decided, but not everyone knows. Many have been left in the darkness in the aftermath of God's victory. How many will we leave there?

Do not take up arms, do not prepare for battle, do not raise the banner high. Go into the chaos of the aftermath of battle and mend broken souls. Care for the sick, the needy, the lost, and the dead. For once you were as they are, but have seen the light and accepted the grace freely offered to all. Above all, love. Love fiercely and gently, love deeply and freely, and love unconditionally.

Why?

Because it will be the difference between life and death.

This is serious.