Wanting More

So I’ve spent a fair bit of time today thinking about us as Christians and the risks (or lack of) we take or the creativity (or lack of) we are open to.

I know I am painting with a very broad brush here but it seems like a large majority of the time I hear believers talking about risks  and the need to take them it’s usually in the context of a short term missions trip or looking at financing a building project.

Not that there is anything wrong with those two things but we have a faith based on a God who sent His son to earth to die on a cross. He then rose from the dead so that we could be reconciled with God and live life to the full.  We then usually live safe little lives where we take very few risks. We sit nicely in our pews then go out into the world and blend right in. Large groups of us may raise our voice to complain about something we’re unhappy about (usually the government) but won’t allow God to speak into our lives beyond dealing with some surface level sin.

A lot of these thoughts come from my reaction to an interaction I had earlier today.  It was with a leader in a local church and there was just no excitement. There was no willingness to change anything from the status quo. There was no willingness to risk anything.  Everything is just fine the way it is and there is no reason to look at anything other than what they’re currently doing and how they’re doing it.

I’m not a fan of change for change sake but I believe we need to be open to God’s calling whenever it comes.  We need to be creative in our thinking as we seek to share the gospel.  We should be full of a holy mischief. We should make people a little uncomfortable because we live as people who have a hope. A hope that is worth dedicating our lives to and giving up everything for.

Again I know I’m painting with a very broad brush. I know there are people of faith who are taking huge risks for the kingdom of God.  I know there are believers who are creating beautiful art and others who are thinking and wrestling with the realities of living a life a faith. So I ask for your forgiveness as I gripe about the way we as Christians often settle for a bland way of living.

Hi all

I’m posting this from my phone. I’ve never done this before so I’m hoping this works and is viewable.

I’m out doing some song writing and came across two fantastic definitions for the word “guide” that I wanted to share.

Guide
1) implies intimate knowledge of the way and of all it’s difficulties and dangers

2) to put or lead on a course or into the way to be followed

They’re nothing profound but I was really struck with the beautiful picture of God as our true guide. That in the struggles and realities of life He alone has an intimate knowledge of the way to be followed.

May God guide you!

Every church talks about how the ministry they are doing is “not about building up our church” and that it’s about God’s Kingdom. For the most part that may be true but quite often (in my experience anyway) most churches usually function on their own and separate from other congregations in the same community. That it’s about God’s kingdom but we would never help that other church over there.

Well I’ve been thinking more and more about where I’m at in my spiritual journey.  In a post last week I talked about my desire to have a greater impact on non-believers around me. As I’ve been wrestling with it I’ve been reminded continually that it all starts with me.  

The big picture is that I want to see the world and lives changed for God. I think most believers would say that as well. The problem is that we’re so busy trying to change the world around us that we forget that the change starts with us.  If we want to see God work in our community and the people we interact with we need to first allow Him to work in our own lives. We cannot expect to have a real impact until we have been really impacted.  

This isn’t just a one time thing I’m talking about. We need to continually allow God to change and reshape us.  The changing of the world starts with the change in ourselves. So I’ve been trying to allow God into my life more and more to show me what still needs worked on. Unfortunately that’s never going to stop.  So the other thing that I need to remember is I can’t wait for me to have everything perfect (cause that’s never going to happen). I’m trying to find that balance or tension between allowing God to prepare me to go into the world and knowing that He’s with me and I’m capable of going out into the world.

So I was spending some time practicing and a thought occurred to me. (“Wow Charlie, you developed a thought.” Pretty surprising I know).

We as Christians have serious troubles with listening. This applies to many different contexts but I’m referring specifically to listening to God. 

We spend lots of time doing Christian activities (that is a good thing) and hopefully lots of time in God’s word and prayer. We strive to find God and meet with Him. We try to follow where he is leading because we know that is what He wants and is best for us. 

But how good are we at listening?

Let me explain why this thought came to my mind.  This might seem quite odd to some of you but I’ll do my best to explain. Quite often when someone is trying to learn an instrument they learn “how” to play that instrument. Let’s take the piano as an example. They have an understanding of how it’s suppose to sound and how to make it sound that way. So practice time is spent trying to manipulate the piano to sound the way it’s suppose to. 

Here’s the odd part that most people don’t realize. When most people are playing an instrument they don’t actually listen or hear what they are playing. You may be thinking  ”that sounds funny, how do they not hear it?”. When playing most people can hear when they hit a wrong note or make a big mistake but don’t hear the sound of the instrument and or the musc they are playing. A popular (and excellent) exercise that many people do is to record their playing to hear it back and listen to how it sounded.  That is a great exercise but did you catch that? We have to record ourselves to hear how we sound! Very few people learn how to listen to their instrument as they are playing. They don’t hear the flow and the movement, the expression, the subtle harmonies or how the sound is filling the room. They are too busy learning how to manipulate their instrument instead of hearing what they sound like and adapting to it. Best example I can give is someone absolutely reefing on their instrument.  It’s loud but it sounds like garbage. Every instrument has a volume where it “sings” and we need to learn to listen for that.

In the example of classical pianists that’s what separates a good player from a great one. With the great ones you don’t just hear a lot of notes played really fast, you hear harmonies and textures and emotion. Yes they are playing fast and fancy but it’s about so much more than the notes. 

When I look at people of faith whom I admire and have been great examples to me they have that listening quality. Yes they do lots of things but it’s about so much more than those things and it’s not done with the intent to (for lack of a better word) manipulate  God. They are in a relationship with Him and when they spend time with God it is a two way street. They are listening to and in tune with God.  They aren’t doing it just to get everything right, they are doing so they can hear God, see how He meets with them and fills the spaces in their lives.