Crisis and Christ

Glenn on Discipleship

I think have just experienced a "rite of passage" in my life. I had another birthday.

Now for some, that's no big deal. For me it usually isn't either, but it happened to come at a time in which I had been in deep thought about several otherwise unconnected problems in my life as well as a few "crisis" points in the lives of some people I care about a great deal.

I try to approach problems by first pondering the Bible's statements regarding the issue. Then I seek to recall experiences that I've had in life that might offer a solution or at least provide clues toward one.

I think a lot about causes. What CAUSED this crisis in the first place? The people are most important to me, but I normally work with others (pastors as well as the people in question) in order to get a more objective view on WHAT caused the friction. Finally, there are those occasional bad moments, sinful "slips" and then there are habitual thinking patterns and behaviors that we have "made our own". A person who is in the habit of doing a particular sin is also in the habit of thinking about doing it. We think- perhaps ever so quickly- and then act.

For that reason, I have come to believe that what the Bible says about thinking and the mind must become one of those focal points to which Christians must return again and again.

We think, we act, and there are consequences. Still with me?

For many years I have found myself strongly believing something that I have only recently seen put into clear English. The following is a quote from Patrick M. Morely's book The Seasons of Crisis and Renewal, in the section titled "The Root Problem of Cultural Christianity":

"There is a God we want and there is a God Who is. They are not the same God. The turning point of our lives is when we stop seeking the God we want and start seeking the God Who is. God is who He is. No amount of wanting Him to be someone or something else will change anything."

Nor will WE be able to truly change: to become more like Jesus, to be more loving, caring, giving, sympathetic, encouraging, holy... without the Person of God being the first and foremost focus.

Very simple words, nearly impossible to refute or contradict, but oh how all of us drive right past Him and His Word for "answers" that seem (for the moment) more acceptable, safer, less costly to the god we want...

I doubt that I could be more convinced than I already am about the theological point usually referred to as "the total depravity of man". In brief, mankind (individually and as a species) is in a continual state of need for God's grace, His help, His forgiveness, His guiding hand.

Only by entrusting our choices to God may we know the security and deep sense of SATISFYING love- THE solution to our condition- God's Love. Of course a person who will not be satisfied with the Person of God will never (take the word "never" to infinity...) be satisfied. They are un satisfiable! End of meaning, end of pleasure, end of positive possibilities... just THE END.

The Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

Wisdom includes the ideas of respect, and worshipful reverent awe Note, "beginning". When you reach the end of yourself, you can begin again. Grace!

Born again. A new life. Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth and the life."(John 14.6). "Christ IS your life".(Col. 3.4). The question is not "Have you read, heard, BELIEVED these scriptures"? The question is: "What are you DOING about them this very day"?

If our definition of "life" or "meaning" or "personhood" does not come from our Creator, we are damned, lost, finished.

I think the core problem of mankind is that we want to occupy God's throne when all the while we ought to be worshiping, loving, thanking and obeying the One Whose throne it is. I think we have an identity problem that is largely solved when we actively surrender to Him. We serve the wrong God, a false God.

You may not know yourself fully, but the more fully you know, trust in, surrender to "the God Who is", the more fully you'll find solutions to every other crisis you'll ever encounter... and help others solve theirs in the process.

Posted 04/07/01