Excuses, Excuses.
Have you ever read one of those “Christian living” books
that make you put it down feeling completely inadequate, hopeless, and more
confused than you were before? Over the
last year or so I have been through a few of them. They are almost always challenging and
sometimes really insightful, but I often walk away frustrated and maybe even a
little mad at the author.
In turn, I start looking for excuses that allow me to
disregard content of the book rather than transform the content of my
life. I will needle through the book and
find something rather trivial with the author and take issue with it hoping
that I can excuse away the overall message and conviction that is being
presented. For example, many of these
books generally have a passage of scripture or two that are really stretched to
make a point. So, I surmise that I can
write off the entire message of the book because the author stretched a passage
of scripture. Or, the author and I
disagree on some doctrinal or theological issue that may not even have anything
to do with the book I’m reading. So, the
entirety of his or her argument can’t really be valid.
The excuses and critiquing can go on and on. But, here’s the real question: Why do I tend
to find excuses to give myself a pass rather than implementing the challenges
from the messages in my life? At the
heart of it….I guess I really don’t want to admit the weakness that I have
within my faith when they are presented to me or to do anything about it when
those weaknesses are made apparent.
·
I don’t want to explore the nagging that hits me
on occasion about entering a foreign mission field.
·
I don’t want to give up some of the things I
really enjoy in order to save money and have more to give to others in need,
church, and other organizations.
·
I don’t want to teach certain things in class,
even if I have conviction about them, because of what others might think about
me.
·
I don’t want to give up any more of my free time
or money to serve the homeless or nurture those who are in desperate need of
compassion and love.
·
I don’t want to give up certain “pet sins” that
creep in and out of my life.
·
I don’t want to make more space for the Spirit
to work in ways that I don’t understand.
·
I don’t want to…
Wait. Wow. All those statements really had a lot in
common. My personal desire is right at
the heart of each of them. It takes a
lot of selflessness to change my desires.
It’s takes total submission of every part of my life to really live out
what God calls me to. It definitely sounds
easier for me to dismiss an author about a theological difference or misused
scripture than have to hand these things over to God.
So, problem solved. The
authors of those books must be off their rockers and I don’t have to pay
attention to any conviction that may have hit me during my reading. Shew! What a relief! I’m off to watch TV. It usually doesn’t make me think too
much.
But, here’s the problem.
The concept of being transformed and led by the Spirit isn’t some *Radical idea created by contemporary
authors about showing *Crazy Love in
order to prove that I am *Not a Fan,
but part of an *Irresistible Revolution. Being transformed and sacrificial is
something Jesus taught when people came to follow Him. Peter showed us the ups
and down of learning to live completely dedicated to God. It’s a profession of dedicated faith that
Paul was inspired to write about to the early church as they navigated a
culture that they boldly faced with an alternative approach to life and hope
for eternity. In Romans 8 he writes
about the battle between us (flesh) and God (Spirit) and the call to give my
life, every part of it, over to Jesus. Later in chapter 12 he continues the push for
submission. He uses words about becoming
living sacrifices for God by giving over our lives and minds to be transformed
into Christ-like disciples, even when that requires yielding my own desires and
forces me to change my actions.
You know, I’ll never reach perfection. And, I don’t have to. Jesus provided the grace to cover my
failures. Paul wrote about that in
Romans as well (Chapter 3). But he
didn’t stop there. He went on to talk
about what it meant to receive that gift and live it out. So, I guess what I hope for today is that I
look just a little bit more like Christ than yesterday by handing everything
over to him as I live through His grace….whether I ever pick up another
“Christian living” book again or not.
*All are good books
that I recommend you read for a challenge to your faith.
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