What Color is Your Idol?

Idolatry is, we think, an Old Testament phenomenon. But if we look at an idol as anything that we substitute for following Christ, we probably all have them - but tend to look past them. In Genesis 11, God scattered the people to put his plan into effect. In the process, he thwarted their plan to build the great city and tower of Babel. Not because it was horribly wrong, but because He had another plan - a people, a law, a land, a Savior - that was better. Sometimes, God may have to ask us to tear down what gets in His way in our life - our idol. Perhaps we worship at the idol of safety, of predictability, of control, of identity, status - or whatever. We, at some point, probably repeatedly, will need to decide whom or what we are really following. In order to do that we need to believe that God can handle our life better than whatever else we are trusting in, and, more importantly, that He loves us - that His way for us is better for us, because He loves us. If we don't cross this bridge with Him, we will probably stick to our little idols.

God's Mission

We live between the Fall and the Consummation of all things. God is, in Christ, through the work of the Holy Spirit, working to bring all things to redemption. His mission is sure and we can be certain He will accomplish it. He calls us to join Him. He calls us to minister the truth of the gospel through lives of love and words that bring the healing power of the gospel. He calls us to work for healing and justice and beauty. The idea that we think of something that sounds good and ask God for help is flawed - we are called to join God's mission, He is not called to join ours. Let us, through His word and the leading of the Spirit, see what God is doing around us and join Him.

Why Theology?

Today, it seems that theology provokes two opposite reactions in the Christian community.
Some have an overdeveloped truth reflex - seeking to do battle with anyone who disagrees with their theology on even the smallest point. For these, there are no smallest points, they are all hills to die on.
Some have an overdeveloped grace reflex - seeking only to follow Jesus and finding all theological disagreements to be distasteful distractions from this following.
What is needed is a healthy approach to theology that is guided by a respect for God's Word and is colored with humility, faith and awe. 'Truth Man' has the tendency to strain out gnats while swallowing camels. His truth can become self-serving and self-righteous - and it lacks grace. And, truth that lacks grace begins to be less true. Because grace is part of truth.
'Grace Man' wants to follow Jesus, at times without doing the theological work needed to know what following Jesus really means (according to Jesus). His grace can become a weak image of true grace, because truth is part of grace (the truth of God's plan, work, holiness and rule).
Theology is unavoidable - because, aware of it or not, we live out a theology every day - a theology for which we one day will give an accounting. Since we all have a theology, we probably should give some thought to which theology we are living out.

When God seems too close

Sometimes we say that God seems too far away. When we are looking for direction, when we are in need of divine intervention - we may cry out to God to come close. But, as we have been talking about over the last few weeks, even then I think we may want him to come close on our own terms. Bringing what we want, what we think we need - in the manner we want Him to. A very big trained helper, bringing help.
But, of course, God does not actually come close to us in the manner we prescribe, or even in the timing we request. Sometimes God hits us with a burning bush - something we weren' t looking for with a message we weren't seeking for a problem we weren't trying to solve. Asking us to leave something, go to someone, change this, give that up. Coming close on His agenda. Do we really want this? We know the right answer should be yes, but it does not always feel comfortable, or even comforting.
We are called to love the Lord our God with all of our heart and soul and mind and strength - and that means loving him when He comes too close for comfort - even learning to love that He comes too close for comfort. Even seeking His closeness on His terms, in His time, in His way - when we can be there, we are finally in a position to keep this first and greatest commandment.

Ears to Hear

The problem with Jesus' statement to us - 'He who has ears to hear, let him hear' - is that we are not always reliable judges on the matter. Most people think they have ears to hear, but I think that on our own - we tend to hear mostly what justifies us, reinforces what we already believe, and protects us.
The disciples did not understand the parables - and the truth is, we would not without help (Jesus helped us directly in some cases). Jesus said that part of why he taught in parables is to give a deeper truth to those who could hear it, but also to provide some concealment for those who were not going to hear anyway.
We need divine help to hear the divine message, any divine message - and if we don't think we need divine help, well, that probably is not a good sign.

Happily Ever After ...

And they lived Happily Ever After ...
The idea of Happily Ever After appeals to us partly because our hearts are wired by God for it. The problem comes when we set up the next milestone, acheivement or title as what will give us happily ever after. This is easy to see - and each of us can look back on times in our lives when we put too many happily ever after eggs in the basket of a job, promotion, possession ... etc.
What is more difficult to see is that many good things - love, family, healthy relationships can also appeal to our desire for Happily Ever After. While these things are good and right, they cannot give us Happily Ever After. For us, Happily Ever After comes with God in eternity future (Rev 21 - 22). Nothing else, however good, can give it to us.
In the first Narnian story "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe", even after the two sons of Adam and the two daughters of Eve sit on the four thrones in the castle at Cair Paravel, it is not happily ever after - because Aslan does not live there. However wonderful, it is not the final Happily Ever After that we were wired for.
As a result, we experience loss and grief with the inevitable transitions of this life. We are called to love well, and the loss or parting of those we love can't be avoided, and we should not try. The only way to avoid it is to experience the loss of not loving well. And it really should not surprise us - because the permanance of Happily Ever After awaits us.

God's Call

God's call on our lives seems harder to figure out than it actually is. God calls us to follow Jesus, to walk humbly, to have mercy, to love people, to be conformed to the image of His Son. Along the way, we will get married or not, move to this place or that, have this job or that, spend our time on hobbies, service, learning, relationships and work. We often focus on the part of God's call that is very specific to our temporal, immediate reality (the what, the when, the how) - when who it is that He calls us to be is eternal and will transcend all of these other things that so occupy us.
I'm not suggesting that these other things are not important, that we should sell everything and become a monk or a nun (necessarily), but that in focusing on what is difficult to discern, we exclude what God calls us to that is plain - and that puts all of the other pieces of our lives in His proper perspective.