I found this post to be very interesting yesterday and I'll quote the source of inspiration below. I've heard Jonathan Martin preach once at Renovatus in Charlotte. Very passionate and inspiring. Straight from the hip--a lot of what the church needs. Life. Direction. Truth. Unfortunately those things are absent in too many cases. Martin says:
What I have found is that within the church many times the people who are angry, the people who are cynical, are not only not discouraged from being that way, they are actively promoted. Who are the people who are most holy? Well, the people who are maddest at the world, right? How do you know a person is holy? Well there just mad as hell all the time about everybody and everything! It must mean that they just really are close to Jesus. We can justify that with spiritual language in a lot of different ways...my reading of scripture is ...that the posture of Jesus to the world is, as he says explicitly himself, “I have not come to the world to condemn the world—but so that the whole world may be saved.”
And as Becky puts it "Jonathan’s overriding point was that according to Christ and the whole ethic of the New Testament, our responsibility is to love and care for people and it is God’s responsibility to judge. At the root of the cynical critical gossip we engage ourselves in so much of the time is a sense that we somehow have the right to judge people and categorize their faults, which then gives us a feeling of power and control over them. It is that desire for power which drove Adam and Eve to the original sin, Jonathan points out."
2 things: 1-I tried to consciously avoid criticizing other people today. It is a very difficult thing to do. Not because I'm overly mean, but just because sarcasm and criticism is so much of a second nature in conversation. I am sure there were moments of criticism today that I didn't even notice. They don't even stick out when I am attempting to notice them. Interesting. Maybe that gets easier with more practice.
2- When I first saw the scripture used for reference by Martin dealing with Jesus saying he didn't come to condemn the world, my immediate gut reaction was to attempt to recall scripture which would contradict such a sentiment. You know the one about how Jesus came to bring division and a sword. As if that one phrase that I'm sure I misrepresent in my mind could detract from the overwhelming message of the New Testament of loving God and loving others. I realize that Satan used scripture in a similar vein when trying to tempt Christ in the desert. What a reflection on my mind. "Get thee behind me" was almost the name of this post...
Thanks for the thoughts on this Becky and Gabe.
dt
1 comment:
Hey man!
I got connected with your blog via Gabe and Becky, and really enjoyed checking it out. I was especially encouraged by you guys doing the criticism fast together...that is really awesome! I can't tell you how much that made my day to hear that you guys were jumping in together on this.
That initial reaction of "what about Jesus bringing a sword" is always (and still) my reaction when I am struggling with my own tongue. That fine line between discernment and judgment can be tricky. Obviously, God doesn't call us to stop "critical thinking" as such. It is so difficult sometimes to sort through our own motives--though I know that much of what I like to think of as discernment in my own heart is a thin veil for arrogance. At any rate, it's a great experiment huh? Let me know how it goes, and I will definitely keep checking up on your blog!
Grace and Peace,
Jonathan
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