A Commonsense Hope and the Need for Balance – Part 2

We do not need to think about God all the time, pray to Him, ask Him permission to do certain things and the like - it makes people really quite weird. In the Institutional Church, believers have trained themselves to inject Biblical statements and catchphrases into every other sentence. I recall listening to a Free Believers Network podcast in which one of the hosts, Kim Scott, who said that she literally had to wean herself off saying words like, “God, Jesus and church”, every other sentence. That might sound heretical to some people, but it is common-sense and practical. We can honour God, whilst at the same time, not being over-spiritual to the point of appearing fake and weird.

I listened to the The Free Believers Network podcast today entitled Spiritual Veal – 8^th October 2010. In this podcast, Darin and Aimee discussed the way in which Christians often wait for God to do things in their lives, often in supernatural ways, instead of just doing something for themselves. I think there really is a need to just get on with life like any other normal person, making decisions as necessary without complicating things by introducing layers of religious performance. Christians become rather weird when they impose all sorts of religious, seemingly Biblical concepts on their lives. Life becomes complicated when almost every single decision that you make must first be validated against the Bible, prayed about and discussed with a prominent member of the church you attend.

Charismatic preachers have given us the impression that a life in Christ will always be exciting, prosperous and full of miracles - but I don't get that impression at all. Surely, miracles by definition are rare? Revivals in the past, such as the Azusa Street Revival are often held-up as a standard to which all Christians are to attain through diligent spiritual practice. But I wonder to myself if such revivals are simply one-off experiences that occur from time-to-time, rather than something which is to be ushered in through our own efforts and experienced on a daily basis? All I know is that when I was praying for revival at Kensington Temple during the late nineties, it was really quite weird, obsessive and oppressive. Furthermore, nothing substantial and lasting happened.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t get the impression that God is desperately trying to move in the lives of Christians in order to make them perform miracles so they can stand out in the crowd. I don’t find many parents disappointed with their children because they aren’t prodigies, such as a maths genius or a music maestro. Most parents love their children even when they come out with naïve statements that make no sense, make mistakes or fall on the floor and hurt themselves. Neither do I find children who are devastated at performing a simple school play rather than appearing in a professional Hollywood production. I’m not opposed to miracles, they have their place, but I’m not going to get obsessive about them like I was encouraged to do in the past.

There really is a need to accept yourself as you are other people as they are and the circumstances of your life as they are. There is a great deal of peace and joy, even prosperity to an extent, to be found in contentment.

A Commonsense Hope and the Need for Balance – Part 1

A recent Free Believers Network podcast episode entitled Getting God to Perform – 5^th October 2010, very much summed-up where I feel I am right now from a spiritual perspective. This podcast also relates how charismatic Christians have been fed a diet of incredible stories of how God moved in powerful ways in the past. All of this has the effect of prompting us to hold on to specific expectations of how God is going to move powerfully in our own lives, typically through some sort of miraculous manifestation.

People who put their hope in something incredible happening in their life reminds me of naïve teenage girls who dream of becoming pop stars. The X-Factor has become very popular now: what makes the X-Factor hugely popular is not just the truly talented people who appear on the show – it is also the people who believe they can sing, but couldn’t sing to save their life. I think one of the most extravagant examples of this is that of two teenage girls who called themselves “Ablisa” – you can see the video on You Tube: X Factor 2010 - Girl Gets Punched Onstage (Full Ablisa Audition). What got these two started on this track was probably the two just singing to pop songs in their bedrooms. It amazes me that these two unpleasant and untalented teenage girls actually believed that they had what it takes to become professional singers.

When you put your hope for a happy and fulfilling life in what you do and what you have – you somehow become deluded into thinking you have what it takes to make something incredible to happen, and for Christians, that God will back you all the way.

We need to build a foundation of knowing that God accepts us as we are, is not mad at us, will never leave us, cares for us and lives within us. From that moment on, I believe, we need to just get on with our lives like any other normal person. One of the reasons why I really enjoy listening to The God Journey podcasts is that the focus is very simple and narrow: it is all about living in the love of God. I also enjoy listening to the The Free Believers Network podcasts – what makes these podcasts so refreshing is not so much the sense of anti-I.C. (Institutional Church) sentiment, but rather, their focus on living simply, knowing that you are loved by God, accepting yourself as you are and loving others. If during your pursuit of living in the love of God eventually leads you to leave your church, then so be it.

The idea of just embracing everyday life and getting on with your life just like any other normal person, might seem dishonouring to God at first, but I believe it is the most realistic way to live. As soon as we entertain the idea of the existence of God – we get caught-up in all kind of religious cobwebs. It can take a lot of time and effort to sift through all the religious chaff, until finally, we are left with the wheat. When we get to that place we might find that a life in Christ looks a lot different to what we were told it would look like; it might actually look a lot more like normal, everyday life than we once thought it would. This might seem disappointing to some people, but everyday life sparkles with a wonderful, joyous glow when we allow the light of God’s love to flood the darkness of our souls.

Abandon the God Idea?

I recently read a post on the Free Believers Network forum entitled, Abandon the God Idea. In this post, the woman related how she had grew up as a Christian, with the idea that God would be like a perfect father to her. But as time went by, she realised that this was more of an ideal rather than a true experience. She then left the church, wondering what to do about the whole concept of God as a Father – should she let go of her God ideas? Should she even let go of the belief in a God altogether?

I kind of get what this person is feeling here. I don't think it is the concept of a God who created the universe that we should consider letting go of - it's all the religious junk that comes with it. It's when we over-spiritualise things that we get into bother. It's when we pray for God's protection when we go on holiday and get other people to pray that our luggage won't go missing and so on.

We talk about God as if He was separate to ourselves, instead of being one with us. This was discussed in a recent podcast by the Free Believers Network entitled, The Oneness Revelation – 2^nd October 2010. The ramifications of the separation mentality are huge: instead of just making spontaneous decisions, we are supposed to check the Bible to see if there is a verse that validates our decision; we have to pray about every little single thing we want to do, discuss things with a pastor or elder in the church and so on.

I think to a great extent we need to get on with our lives without having God in our mind all the time. There is a need to get on with our lives without worrying if we will get caught-up in some kind of sin. We should not go out with the intention of sinning, but be mindful that all we can do is our best – if we end-up making a mistake or succumbing to temptation in one way or another – so be it. God loves us the way we are and when we try to earn his acceptance of us through something that we do for Him – we end-up missing the whole purpose of righteousness by faith.

I believe that a life in Christ really should look a lot more like everyday life than what the church has led us to believe – that is something that disappoints and frustrates some Christians. When someone has lived a disappointing and frustrating life, they can tend to hold-on to thoughts of a better life as a means of coping. But the adherence to fantasies is not real hope: hope is an expectation of good and the Bible tells us that it is an aspect of love, just as kindness and patience is. When Christians put their hope in something amazing happening in their life, they experience the anxiety of trying to control their life. This inevitably results in disappointment when the thing they were hoping for does not materialize.

We should not feel the need to abandon the belief that God exists. But we should strive to attain a balance: honouring God where appropriate, whilst giving ourselves credit when we achieve something good; seeing God as living within us, whilst having the sense of freedom to make decisions for ourselves.

I’m Not a Serious Christian – Part 3

In order to experience the love of God for yourself, it’s not about the accumulation of spiritual knowledge or “serving God” by performing benevolent acts in the institution church. When a Christian believes that they have to get serious about serving God in the church, in order to be blessed and favoured by Him, they open themselves up to a whole lot of religious abuse. One of the main things that cause Christians to become so serious is the threat of punishment. When Christianity becomes all about avoiding hell or living right, they tend to become frightened people and critical and oppressive towards others - the grace message sets people free from such oppression.

You cannot qualify yourself as being a “loving person”, simply by making yourself do some of those things which someone associates with the character of a “loving person”. I believe that experiencing grace and love is much, much simpler than that. A loving personality comes from within, it is natural and is not something that you earnestly strive to prove or exercise through good works. You know when you are around someone who has a genuine heart of love: their body language exudes it and you can even feel it in your spirit.

I listened to the latest The God Journey podcast episode today: It’s the Living Loved That’s Important 25^th September 2010. Wayne and Brad related a lot of things along the same lines as what I have written above, in relation to the wrong motives that Christians have. I like the way that Wayne Jacobsen openly relates his experiences with desiring to establish a ministry empire from the flesh, together with how empty and unfulfilling all of that is. You can tell when someone is not living loved and are using the love of God as another spiritual “concept”, when they earnestly strive to get other people to agree with them on forums and other such platforms. When you live loved, you don’t have to prove it to other people – you live it. People who live loved don’t have to defend themselves or feel the need to argue their case – they can just walk away with the other person still holding onto their contrary beliefs.

The more you are in the flesh, not knowing the love of God, or treating the love of God as another spiritual concept that you have to master and teach others – the more serious you are bound to be. The more you live in the love of God, the less you feel you need to master spiritual concepts; and the more free you are to live life freely – and to not be so freaking serious about it!

Photo: Big Laughing courtesy of Tommy Wong.

I’m Not a Serious Christian – Part 2

I look back on my life and realise just how much time I wasted trying to become an “expert” in spiritual knowledge. I could have learned to speak another language or I could have read some really good secular novels with the time I spent studying. We often assume that people will be more influenced by us and will delight in us, as Christians, if we know as much as possible about Christianity – that is not the case in my experience. I find that it is often the people who hardly have any spiritual knowledge, who seem to excel in this “living loved” lifestyle. To be honest, I don’t think people in the world are impressed with serious looking Christians who spout off a load of spiritual concepts. Such Christians tend to be rather proud and highly opinionated – which is a huge turn-off for anybody. People tend to be more attracted to those who humble themselves, not abase themselves, but people who don’t assume to have all the answers: people who put others first and accept other people as they are.

I find that the Christians at Hillsong London tend to get the balance right when it comes to having fun and not being too serious. Studying Theology is not at the top of the list for these Christians, neither is the need to prove they are right and everybody else is wrong. The most important things for these Christians tend to be making people feel welcome, socialising and having fun. I used to think that they went overboard with having fun and being sociable – but now I realise that they have it right. If you are a “serious” Christian, you too would probably arrive at the same conclusion that I used to arrive at. But what does bother me about the Hillsong crowd is that they are hooked on excitement, moreover, anticipation.

There’s always something going on at Hillsong London church that gets these people excitedly anticipating something: a new worship CD is coming out next month, or a charismatic speaker is visiting next week or there is a charity football match on tomorrow or the annual conference is coming up in a few months. I suppose it has to be exciting to get people interested enough to keep on coming, otherwise, it would get rather boring. But it does bother me somewhat that a Christian can get serious about a certain speaker or concept, just because they are exciting. I’ve noticed that the Hillsong crowd will get just as excited about hearing someone like Joyce Meyer, than they will about grace preacher Joseph Prince. Nowadays, I tend to not get so bothered about such things: if a Christian is humble, laid-back, fun and good to get on with – that’s just fine in my book.

I don’t think that there is anything “right” or “wrong” about Hillsong, as such. In fact, I’d say it’s my favourite church at the moment, although I don’t attend as much as I used to. I think it is just like any other church experience in that it’s a phase that you go through and hopefully enjoy and learn from, to some extent. Those who move on from Hillsong usually do so because of their circumstances, such as their visa expiring. There are those people who leave because they get ticked-off about something. Whatever the case, I think it is fine to experience something for a season and then to move on at the right time.

Photo: Laughing on the Bus courtesy of Peter Smithy.

I’m Not a Serious Christian – Part 1

I recently noticed the unusual title of a rather popular blog which I follow: the blog is called Voice of Grace and the title of this particular blog entry was I’m Not a Serious Christian. In this curious blog entry I read something that I really resonated with: how exhausting it was to be a serious Christian.

Coincidently, I listened to my favourite Christian podcast a couple of days ago: The Free Believers Network, entitled Laughter Therapy 21^st September 2010. This podcast emphasised the importance of having fun and how serious institutional Christianity can make a person. It seems that the pursuit of religion and theology above relationship with God and other people, inevitably leads to overindulgence in analysing things and absolute seriousness about so many things. It’s like Christians have trained themselves to no longer be fun and to adopt a serious persona. I suppose they do this because they don’t want to be seen as being flippant, especially when it comes to spiritual things. I like this quote from the introduction to this podcast episode, “We’ve lost our sense of humour because we’ve been pickled in a jar of seriousness our entire lives.” I also like something that Darin Hufford said in this podcast, something he has said before, “Christians believe that a good marriage should be 95 percent seriousness and 5 percent fun – but it should actually be the other way around.”

I became very serious in my pursuit of truth as a Christian. I began to look down on those things that were deemed “ungodly” and criticized those people who did not “honour God”. It all blew up in my face when, after pursuing spiritual concepts, principles and formulas for several years – I realised that my life was not changed for the better. I’ve spent a lot of time trying to map spiritual concepts to my life as a means of making my life more prosperous, happy and attractive to others – but it has not worked.

I believe that motives play a huge role in whether the pursuit of spiritual knowledge really yields any tangible benefits. In his book, Mastering Your Emotions, Pastor Colin Dye says that the basic human wants are security, significance and self-worth; we try to satisfy these wants through the pursuit of people, power and possessions. I will admit that although I convinced myself that my motives were pure, they really were tainted with security, significance and self-worth. We are all motivated by these core human needs – every single one of us; although, some experience them more than others and we all express them in various different ways.

The pursuit of a ministry empire, were you seek establish yourself as a “font of all knowledge”, is obviously an enticing trap for many people. I will admit that I wanted to become an “expert” in my new-found theology: the grace message. But when grace or “living loved” becomes something that you study with a means of teaching others who are seeking fulfilment in life – we inevitably miss it. It really is shocking just how far a person can travel down that road of studying about love and grace – without actually experiencing it.

Photo: Laughing courtesy of Anthony Kelly.

Blessing and Favour Through Obedience – Part 5

If Christians make a connection between obedience and blessings, there will often be a tendency to believe that they are not obedient enough because the blessings just don’t seem to be there. This approach can lead to obsessive rule-keeping and adherence to all sorts of principles – principles being a subtle form of rule-keeping.

The conclusion that I have come to on the subject of being guided by God, is that peace of mind is the most important thing. Peace and faith always go together – you cannot have one without the other. When you trust in God there is a peace about it. It is when a person’s mind is in turmoil, wracked with anxiety that they fail to hear from God and typically go off and do their own thing – just like Moses when he struck the rock with his staff; just like the twelve spies who spied out the promises land and gave a negative report.

I cannot help but feel that being exposed to all of these extravagant stories which are attributed to scripture can have a detrimental effect on Christians, especially if they are insecure and prone to worry. When it comes to being provided for materially, I think nothing beats not worrying.

³¹ "Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' ³² "For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. ³³ "But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

Matthew 6:31-33

I believe that “kingdom of God and His righteousness” has to include peace. In fact, Romans 14:17 tells us exactly what it is: the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. How can you have the kingdom of God in you if you are not happy and you are always worrying about things?

I have always struggled with the “standard” preaching in church on taking action. The conclusion I have now come to is that life just does itself and things just tend to happen. We have both a conscious mind and a subconscious mind: it is the subconscious mind which forms our habits and it is the subconscious mind which leads us to do things spontaneously, often without hardly thinking about it. Why are Christians so pre-occupied with rules and principles, when a lot of the time they are not consciously aware of them most of the time and they often end-up doing something different anyway?

One of my favourite verses in the Bible is Philippians 2:13. I think that other versions of the Bible really help to bring out the meaning of this verse:

¹³ for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.

Philippians 2:13 NKJV

¹³ For God is at work within you, helping you want to obey him, and then helping you do what he wants.

Philippians 2:13 TLB

¹³ For it is God who is the cause of your desires and of your acts, for his good pleasure.

Philippians 2:13 BBE

¹³ For it is God Himself whose power creates within you the desire to do His gracious will and also brings about the accomplishment of the desire.

Philippians 2:13 WNT

If it is God working in us to give us the desire to do what He wants and to actually perform it – why are we trying to anxiously control our own lives through rules and principles? Surely, a peaceful mind which trusts in God is the most conducive way in which to surrender to God and obey Him as He moves freely in our lives by the Holy Spirit? I suppose that Joel Osteen’s teaching on obedience leading to blessing is a move towards the concepts I’m trying to convey here – but the way he and other well-renowned Bible teachers go about it, leaves me feeling that they are not going about it the right way.

I would again like to re-iterate the need to find hope through the assurance of what Christ has already done for us; not finding hope through being give elaborate, unrealistic anecdotes and testimonies. It is about finding peace of mind through the assurance that we are right with God, through Christ by faith, not by our own works. It is not our obedience through our behaviour which attracts blessing and favour per se, it has a lot more to do with establishing peace of mind.