I wondered why Christianity had not typically embedded itself into these festivals, why we weren’t among the leaders of new cultural developments and wildly creative thought. Certainly God is wildly creative – enough to find his way into human hearts in other cultures around the world. But at these festivals, and in the newly developing cultures of postmodernity, there seemed to be so few people of Jesus.
By Phil Wyman from “Finding Jesus at Burning Man” out of Christianity Today
This video challenges me on so many levels. The question for me is, “Do I live in such a way to show Christ or Christianity?”
It took me a long time to figure all this out, to understand that even when God is with me, life is not always going to turn out the way I hoped. I knew there would be disappointments and struggles. But part of me still wanted to believe my faith could act like a king sized ibuprofen. I wanted to believe that as long as I knew God was with me, the pain of those difficult moment would be eased.
His kingdom society will be shaped not by power-mongering but by self-sacrificing service for one another. In fact, he reveals, his own life will be an absolutely perfect sacrifice and memorable example: He will give his own life as a ransom and as a martyr for them. He will die in order to take their death upon himself, and he will, at the same time, provide a model of how to live – by giving your life for others.
The puzzle is why so many people live so badly. Not so wickedly, but so inanely. Not so cruelly, but so stupidly. There is little to admire and less to imitate in the people who are prominent in our culture. We have celebrities but not saints. Famous entertainers amuse a nation of bored insomniacs…
All the same, we continue to have an unquenchable thirst for wholeness, a hunger for righteousness. When we get thoroughly disgusted with the shams and cretins that are served up to us daily as celebrities, some of us turn to Scripture to satisfy our need for someone to look up to….
When we do turn to Scripture for help in this matter we are apt to be surprised. One of the first things that strikes us about the men and women in Scripture is that they were disappointingly non-heroic. We do not find splendid moral examples. We do not find impeccably virtuous models…It refuses to feed our lust for hero worship. It will not pander to our adolescent desire to join a fan club. The reason is, I think, clear enough.
Fan clubs encourage secondhand living…Something very different takes place in the life of faith: each person discovers all the element of a unique and original adventure..The Bible makes it clear that every time that there is a story of faith, it is completely original. God’s creative genius is endless.
>John Ortberg does a great job of communicating the joy and desire God has when we find the life He want for us. It is an easy and encouraging read. That is not to say it does not challenge you to take steps of faith and to seek to grow in obedience to God. The Me I Want to Be would be a great group study.
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You give and take away
You give and take away
My heart will choose to say
Lord, blessed be Your name
I am someone in process. That has many sides. I am defined by Christ, being a husband, father, and a minister. I enjoy Auburn football, music, culture, church stuff, reading, Chopped, Mythbusters, Surviror, TED, and the internet.
Love God so passionately others are blessed.
