11/22/2017
Are you a serious person? By this I mean, do you present yourself in faith as a stuffy, academically aloof, or “better than you” Christian? If you are like this or are more interested in appearing righteous than actually being righteous, then it is time to wake up. Jesus was born a carpenter’s son and lived a common life, despite being anything but common.
“So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. Give no offense to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God, just as I try to please everyone in everything I do, not seeking my own advantage, but that of many, that they may be saved.”
1 Corinthians 10:31-33 ESV
I see it all the time, people who can’t enjoy their life of faith because if they did, they might appear to be less. This is a form of insecurity. Jesus didn’t come to place us in bondage, He came to set us free. He was a king who wasn’t afraid to be seen as a commoner, He attended weddings, laughed, and ate wonderful meals with friends and people that the “stuffy” folks wouldn’t dare be seen with. He lived life to its fullest, and yet still was able to live it for the glory of God. Living and glorifying God are not mutually exclusive. Oswald Chambers wrote about this in this way...
“We have to live the surface common-sense life in a common-sense way; when the deeper things come, God gives them to us apart from the shallow concerns. Never show the deeps to anyone but God. We are so abominably serious, so desperately interested in our own characters, that we refuse to behave like Christians in the shallow concerns of life.” - Oswald Chambers
When I was in college I had two professors; one would stand at the front of the class and lecture, and then when class was over he walked directly out the door without interacting with his students. The other professor lectured, but invited questions, and after class he made himself available to his students. Sometimes he would invite several of us to his home where we would sit cross legged on the floor, sip wine, eat cheese and crackers, and discuss what we were reading in class. Who made the greatest impact on my education? Who taught me the most? Both were English professors, and without looking at my yearbook I couldn’t tell you the name of the first professor and what he taught, but I do remember T.Y. Greet, and Shakespeare’s writing.
How many pastors, priests, or lay Christians lose souls by separating themselves from would-be students of faith? How many times do we spend more effort trying to impress those around us with our command of scripture, or academic theological mastery, and totally lose those who are earnestly seeking Jesus? How many times do we go in a Performa manner to the bedside of the sick, and pray a cerebral prayer as we neglect to hold the hand of the dying and display the love of Christ to them?
I think Chambers saw it correctly. I learned more about Shakespeare sitting with a group of fellows on a professor’s floor than I ever dreamed of learning in lecture. The common became the unimaginably great. Jesus reaches us in His ability to sit with us, and conveys God’s glory far more effectively than if he had been a king in a castle, or a wise man locked in a temple or monastery. Chambers challenges us to look introspectively; he warns us that living our life here and now is just as righteous, and holy, as postponing our happiness until we reach heaven.
“Beware of allowing yourself to think that the shallow concerns of life are not ordained of God; they are as much of God as the profound.” - Oswald Chambers
So join Jesus at the wedding, drink some wine with the other guests, marvel at His miracles, sit at the table with Him and listen as He speaks of the Father... smile and laugh with the children that play around His feet, and cry for Nicodemus. All of these common things of life are godly, and feed our faith. Then perhaps you will find that the stuffiness will abate, and the joy of a God will infuse you.
Prayer:
Father, thank you for the fullness of life, and the joy you give me in even the smallest and most common aspects of it. Thank you for sending Jesus to live His life among us, and to teach us that these common-place blessings in our lives are just as much a part of you as the pomp and circumstance of any king’s coronation. Help me Father to put those around me at ease as I speak to them about you, and the wonders of your Word. Give me a common-sense approach to witnessing that will bring souls to you. Let me show others that loving and serving you happens every day, and in everything we do. Give me the heart of Christ as I visit the sick and dying. Give me the tears for the suffering and those who mourn, and let your love flow from me as I hold those who are heartbroken. Teach me Father that every small occurrence in life is noticed by you, and worthy of my care, and attention. In this we find the eyes to see your Glory, and in this we celebrate your joy.
Rich Forbes