I’m overly cynical lately.
I’m overly cynical because I’m weary of Christianity. I dislike so much of what it’s become. And, if I (a Christian in full-time ministry) don’t like what it looks like… why would anyone else? The more aggravating part of not necessarily liking how things look, is recognizing how I’ve fallen prey to the Christian culture.
I’m just as guilty of spewing out commentary that I don’t actually mean, of wanting to tie everything into a pretty package with a bow on a top, of acting like I have it all together, of using Christian lingo without really understanding what it all means…
I heard an incredible sermon a few weeks ago about all of this. One of the things the pastor said that’s stuck with me is the need to ‘let God be who He is, not who we want Him to be’.
I think that’s where my frustration stems from. That everywhere I look God has become so much of who we want Him to be. Whether it’s verses that get posted on Facebook out of context, or the ways that we try to cope with each day–Christianity has become so much about us… It seems we tend to serve God for our sake, more than His sake.
It seems like we care more about God working everything out for our good.
We care more that we are given eternal life.
We care that He gives us everything we ask for.
We strive to be good people because we like the way it makes us feel, or we think it’s the way that we are supposed to live in order to do things ‘right’.
Check it out:
‘But whatever was to my profit, I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ…’
In context, Paul is basically saying that no amount of righteousness attained through the law (legalism) means anything. Even his good deeds, even his perfection as a Jew… none of it matters next to knowing Christ. Because of Christ, He has lost everything… not because of himself, not because of what he could attain… but for Christ’s sake!
I honestly wonder how many of us have given our lives to Jesus for our sake and not His sake… because of who we want God to be vs. who He actually is.
Yes, God is good, He is love, He is gentle, and sovereign… but He is also jealous, and righteous, and holy, holy, holy… and filled with wrath. He is a God who demands His glory. And honestly, when I lay out all of His attributes, I don’t necessarily like all of them. I don’t like them because I don’t understand them… and I have to choose to still love Him even when I don’t understand Him, I have to choose to still trust Him.
Can our faith be transformed into a journey that is for His sake and not our sake?
I’m tired of making life about me.
I’m tired of making God into who I want Him to be.
He is.
I have to worship Him in the fullness of who He is, not just the parts of Him that I want. I have to get to a point where I know who He is, so I’m not making Him into something that He’s not.
Let us toss aside everything…so that we may truly know Christ.
Let it be for His sake that we lose it all…
May we die, so we might truly live for Him.