In my last couple of blog posts I have been focusing on shifts in our thinking that need to take place now. I've raised the questions:
- Can God be trusted?
- Can life be good outside of our present circumstances?
- Is Jesus' message really about looking forward to heaven when we die?
In response, I've heard back from a few who have said, yes...but...we do have something better to look forward to! ...right?
So why have I taken this approach? Why focus on the right now and not as much on the what is to come? Do I, myself, look forward to heaven? Am I concerned with all of our eternal destinies? The quick answer is yes, the more involved answer is...well, it's more involved.
I was raised my entire life in a particular faith tradition. Most of us have been raised in a particular faith tradition. Those traditions may, and quite likely are, different and similar in many aspects, but we all have them from no or little focus on faith, to heavy adherence to a particular practice.
My particular faith tradition talked much about the love of God being manifested in Jesus coming to earth to die on a cross for our, and more specifically my own, sins, and if I believe that to be true and accept His free gift of salvation, I will go to be with Him when I die and I won't have to burn in the eternal torment of hell, even though that is very much what I deserve because of my wrong actions in this life. I actually think this sums up the majority of the christian traditions, at least in the western world today. Of course there are different focuses and specifics of how in fact this comes to be, but that is a good, but yes general, summation.
The affect that this thinking about faith and God and religion in general had on me, was to focus my attention on myself. How do I manage the problem of sin, i.e. bad actions, in my life? How do I make sure that I am living a life that is pleasing to God so that He won't have reason to reject me from His heaven when I die? Does it matter if I live a life that is pleasing to God, because ultimately it comes down to His free gift of salvation that is accessed through a "sinner's prayer"? How do I make it through the drudgery and even pain of this life while waiting for death so that I can be with Him in Heaven?
Ultimately, my philosophy became "knowledge is power". Power to keep my sins in check. Power to know that I am on the correct path to heaven. Power to convince others of their wrong track mindset so that they can get on the true path to heaven. Power to push through the drudgery and pain of life as I wait for heaven when I die. What I failed to recognize is the old adage "power corrupts", and my faith disintegrated into the "science" of what can be studied in the text of scripture, and my life disintegrated into the pride of being able to overcome others thoughts and arguments, both within and without the church, on the particulars of how one gets to heaven when they die.
Sounds like fun right? ...ask my wife about it sometime.
One day, I was shown a picture of this approach to faith and life though. By God's mercy, it did not look appealing to me, in fact I was appalled by it. I remember going home that day and telling Jess that if this is where I am headed, something is really broken with my thinking. As I began to take inventory of my life, as I began to look at my relationships, as I began to look at my sin management; something became very clear, it's just not working. Something is wrong. Something has been wrong for a very long time. I've missed something.
That day began my true repentance. As I've written before, not repentance in the form of falling on my knees and beating my chest or whipping my back while crying out for forgiveness, although I felt like that at times, but repentance as Jesus called for in His very first public message, it's time to rethink everything.
The result today of beginning that journey roughly eight years ago, and might I add is certainly nowhere near finished, is recognizing the message of Jesus as being one of hope and mission for today while looking forward to that same hope and mission continuing forward in ever increasing intensity and goodness for all of eternity. Another way of saying it is that I have learned to desire to be with God and an active part of what He is doing today, while trusting Him for an ever increasingly better tomorrow...forever.
My faith tradition growing up seemed to want to focus more on the better tomorrow while hanging on to get through today. It made for a dreary life. I think most christian faith traditions today are guilty of the same approach. I prefer to discuss His hope for today right now, and trust that God has our eternal destiny well under hand.
...that being said, there is a glorious hope for tomorrow that fuels our hope for today...
In the next couple of weeks I want to spend some time talking about our hope for tomorrow and how it really should radically shape our hope and actions for today.
So, for the next few weeks I will focus on Hope, Faith, Love, and Grace.
Join me?
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