We
live in a culture that values speed, ease, and quantity. None of those
things matter much to God. He is a God of patience. When He walked
this earth, He always took time to get away from it all to spend time
with the Father in prayer. And most of the time He went alone. He, who
had so much to accomplish in so short a time, was never in a hurry. He
stopped to pray, to hold the children in His
lap, to take His disciples aside and instruct them, and to spend an
evening at dinner with a reformed tax collector. He even stopped on
resurrection morning to show His love to one of His distraught children
who needed it desperately.
He was not concerned with the luxuries of life. He slept in the open fields, a rock for a pillow. He accumulated no wealth. When luxuries were "wasted" on Him in acts of adoration and love, He commended the "wasting." His friends were not the rich and famous but the poor, the outcasts, the "sinners" who loved Him.
And God is not a God who measures success in quantities. He warns us against being quantity minded. "Don't lay up for yourselves treasures on earth." He warns us that being quantity minded has undermined many a person's life, "pierced them through with great sorrows." If you have clothes and food and a place to lay your head, you've got all you need. If you have more than you need, be sure you use it to help someone else is His command--not His suggestion.
I think that too often we get confused and think that American and Christian are synonymous. Much of what America teaches as its "dream" are contrary to the life that Christ wants us to live. If we forget that and buy into the system, we will be in danger of becoming saltless salt, useful for nothing, unable to be the light necessary to slow down the nation's steady decline into immorality and God's certain judgment. And it is in the church where God's judgment always begins. He must purify us before He can purify the culture in which we live. He must destroy our "baskets" so our light can shine again.
Wouldn't it be marvelous and culture changing if we purified ourselves so that He didn't have to? And how does Isaiah define biblical citizenship? Seek justice, encourage the oppressed, defend the fatherless, plead the case of the widow. Sounds like the "American Dream" to me.
He was not concerned with the luxuries of life. He slept in the open fields, a rock for a pillow. He accumulated no wealth. When luxuries were "wasted" on Him in acts of adoration and love, He commended the "wasting." His friends were not the rich and famous but the poor, the outcasts, the "sinners" who loved Him.
And God is not a God who measures success in quantities. He warns us against being quantity minded. "Don't lay up for yourselves treasures on earth." He warns us that being quantity minded has undermined many a person's life, "pierced them through with great sorrows." If you have clothes and food and a place to lay your head, you've got all you need. If you have more than you need, be sure you use it to help someone else is His command--not His suggestion.
I think that too often we get confused and think that American and Christian are synonymous. Much of what America teaches as its "dream" are contrary to the life that Christ wants us to live. If we forget that and buy into the system, we will be in danger of becoming saltless salt, useful for nothing, unable to be the light necessary to slow down the nation's steady decline into immorality and God's certain judgment. And it is in the church where God's judgment always begins. He must purify us before He can purify the culture in which we live. He must destroy our "baskets" so our light can shine again.
Wouldn't it be marvelous and culture changing if we purified ourselves so that He didn't have to? And how does Isaiah define biblical citizenship? Seek justice, encourage the oppressed, defend the fatherless, plead the case of the widow. Sounds like the "American Dream" to me.
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