the Boy next door...
I recently heard about a man (or rather…some men) who are being referred to as ‘a modern day Peter and Paul!’ I heard about how these men are preaching fearlessly in sometimes dangerous and increasingly hostile territory. I heard about how miracles are happening… how people are having their sins forgiven, their diseases healed, and their lives redeemed from the pit! I heard about how people are seeing the New Testament ‘lived out’ in the here and now! There is great excitement – as well there should be! There are bold declarations that our God – our Jesus – is ‘the same! Yesterday! Today! Forever!’ There is amazement!
I love hearing this! But, there is something about it that makes me a little sad. These words are not being said about my church, in my town.
There is something else. Every one in my church (not that I’ve spoken to everyone…I’m making assumptions) would boldly say that they believe, wholeheartedly, the WORD of God. And yet, we are amazed when we SEE that our God is the same, yesterday, today, and forever. If we had truly believed…all our lives…the WORD of God… we would not find it AMAZING that his WORD is true. Do you get what I’m saying?
We are very, very reluctant to say that we don’t believe the WORD of God. There is good reason for this. We should be ashamed to admit to the God who created the universe in a moment, in a breath, in a WORD, that we don’t believe what he says. We are very, very reluctant to say that anything depends on our faith, because that would mean we would have to have faith, which would mean that we would have to admit that we don’t have faith, which actually means that: we have to admit that we don’t believe that what God says is true! And we recognize the absurdity of that and shrink from it. We hide from it. We deny it.
We piously use the story of the father of the son with seizures to say that ‘faith is not required, because the father said ‘help thou my unbelief’ (proving that he did not believe) and Jesus healed his son anyway,’ even though absolutely everywhere else in the Bible it says that faith IS required. It is...our loophole for unbelief. The thing we miss when we say this is: The father admits that he has unbelief. We, however, stiff-neckedly say, "You can’t tell me I don’t believe…I believe the WORD, I believe in Jesus!" We get angry (or hurt, which is a different form of anger) at the implication. Our pride gets seriously ruffled. "Help thou my unbelief" was not a ‘formula phrase’ used to cover all the bases. "Help thou my unbelief," to be of any real value, requires fall-on-your-face repentance and humility and shame that we could dare to doubt the God of the universe. The God who loved us so much that he sent his only son. The God who said ‘who heals all your diseases.’ The God who said ‘by His stripes we are healed.’
**Whew…I went on a bit of a rant there… got a little side tracked from the title… anyway…
I wonder if…having grown up, all my life, with Jesus… if I don’t have a bit of ‘the boy next door’ syndrome.
The story I’ve recently heard is punched full of exclamations that God is powerful, that Jesus is POWERFUL! There is POWER! Again, this should not amaze us! This is what the WORD has been saying all along! Paul asks the question of the Galatian church ‘Does God work miracles among you because of this…or because of this??’ The fact that he works miracles is a given, it is taken for granted, it is commonplace, it is everyday, it is undisputed in the Galatian church.
**Ooohh – getting off track again…**
The problem is, I’ve grown up with Jesus. He’s ‘the boy next door.’ I know, I know, I was told that I needed to place my faith in him, or I wouldn’t get to heaven… I know, I know, He lead a sinless life, blah, blah, blah… but really… he’s just Jesus… his mom is Mary, his dad’s a carpenter… yah, yah, yah. He grew up down the street from me… he shared his lunch with me sometimes. He moved away a while back and there was some big hoopla about him, people followed him around like he was something special. He was nice and all, a really good friend actually, …but… POWERFUL??
"…in his hometown and in his own house is a prophet without honor." An he did not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith." Matt.13:58 and Mark 6:4-6
Again my heart cries out for revelation..........
I love hearing this! But, there is something about it that makes me a little sad. These words are not being said about my church, in my town.
There is something else. Every one in my church (not that I’ve spoken to everyone…I’m making assumptions) would boldly say that they believe, wholeheartedly, the WORD of God. And yet, we are amazed when we SEE that our God is the same, yesterday, today, and forever. If we had truly believed…all our lives…the WORD of God… we would not find it AMAZING that his WORD is true. Do you get what I’m saying?
We are very, very reluctant to say that we don’t believe the WORD of God. There is good reason for this. We should be ashamed to admit to the God who created the universe in a moment, in a breath, in a WORD, that we don’t believe what he says. We are very, very reluctant to say that anything depends on our faith, because that would mean we would have to have faith, which would mean that we would have to admit that we don’t have faith, which actually means that: we have to admit that we don’t believe that what God says is true! And we recognize the absurdity of that and shrink from it. We hide from it. We deny it.
We piously use the story of the father of the son with seizures to say that ‘faith is not required, because the father said ‘help thou my unbelief’ (proving that he did not believe) and Jesus healed his son anyway,’ even though absolutely everywhere else in the Bible it says that faith IS required. It is...our loophole for unbelief. The thing we miss when we say this is: The father admits that he has unbelief. We, however, stiff-neckedly say, "You can’t tell me I don’t believe…I believe the WORD, I believe in Jesus!" We get angry (or hurt, which is a different form of anger) at the implication. Our pride gets seriously ruffled. "Help thou my unbelief" was not a ‘formula phrase’ used to cover all the bases. "Help thou my unbelief," to be of any real value, requires fall-on-your-face repentance and humility and shame that we could dare to doubt the God of the universe. The God who loved us so much that he sent his only son. The God who said ‘who heals all your diseases.’ The God who said ‘by His stripes we are healed.’
**Whew…I went on a bit of a rant there… got a little side tracked from the title… anyway…
I wonder if…having grown up, all my life, with Jesus… if I don’t have a bit of ‘the boy next door’ syndrome.
The story I’ve recently heard is punched full of exclamations that God is powerful, that Jesus is POWERFUL! There is POWER! Again, this should not amaze us! This is what the WORD has been saying all along! Paul asks the question of the Galatian church ‘Does God work miracles among you because of this…or because of this??’ The fact that he works miracles is a given, it is taken for granted, it is commonplace, it is everyday, it is undisputed in the Galatian church.
**Ooohh – getting off track again…**
The problem is, I’ve grown up with Jesus. He’s ‘the boy next door.’ I know, I know, I was told that I needed to place my faith in him, or I wouldn’t get to heaven… I know, I know, He lead a sinless life, blah, blah, blah… but really… he’s just Jesus… his mom is Mary, his dad’s a carpenter… yah, yah, yah. He grew up down the street from me… he shared his lunch with me sometimes. He moved away a while back and there was some big hoopla about him, people followed him around like he was something special. He was nice and all, a really good friend actually, …but… POWERFUL??
"…in his hometown and in his own house is a prophet without honor." An he did not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith." Matt.13:58 and Mark 6:4-6
Again my heart cries out for revelation..........
posted by toomanywhatifs at
11:52 AM
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