The Right Question

If there is one thing that having a blog has taught me, its that I'm a terrible blogger! Even though thousands of ideas run through my head and I think, "I should write about that", I find that I don't take the time to do it.

However, every now and again, a thought hits me that I believe is so critical to our journey that I have to get it out there.

The thought is this: Religion focuses on discovering what WE think of God - like He is an option in our life - and how to "get to" Him, if, in fact, we end up believing He exists. Let's face it, man has been trying to "perform" his way into God's favor for centuries. And, without putting it on their promotional material, the institutional church (especially the American institutional church) supports this same false idea in the way it operates - those who "do more" are viewed as more "spiritual" than those who just show up, those who give the most money get the leadership positions because they are "more invested" than those who just give what they can, those whose behavior is consistent with the theology of the particular church are the ones on display because they won't be an embarrassment to the establishment. You get the idea. It is an unspoken, but very real, dynamic in most churches today.

But Jesus didn't come to start a religion or build institutions. The word "Christianity" never appears in Scripture. The word "disciple", however, appears more than 260 times in the New Testament. "Christianity" describes a religion, an institution. "Disciple" describes a relationship.

Jesus came to show us what a relationship with the Father looks like. A relationship by its very nature has to be two-sided. One cannot have a unilateral relationship. And, as we see Jesus relating to people in the Gospels, we get a sense of what HE thinks of US! Think about the times He related to people in the complete opposite way of the religionists of his time:

- He touched the leper in Mark 1
- He didn't condemn the woman caught in adultery in John 8
- He showed kindness to the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4
- He forgave the very men who hung Him on a cross in Luke 23

In every instance, not only do we see who HE is, but in His actions, He also makes a statement about who WE are. We are loved. We are chosen. We are precious to Him.

If this is the case, why is so much of our time and effort dedicated to getting His attention and proving our worth to Him? Didn't He answer that question when He came and, ultimately, with the cross?

When Jesus answered the question of the Pharisees in Matthew 22 about the greatest commandment, He answered with, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor AS YOURSELF."

If we don't see ourselves as GOD sees us, how will we ever love others as God sees THEM? The self-sacrificing, agape love of Jesus can only flow through us when we receive His love and learn to love ourselves as He loves us - not a conceited, self-centered love, but a holy and pure view of who God has created us to be.

So, the question is not just, "Who is God?" but it is also, "Who am I?"

Once we allow God to show us who WE are, once we learn to "lived loved", I believe everything else in our lives begins to take on that transcendent, abundant life that is the promise of the Gospel.

Do you find yourself wanting a deeper, more intimate relationship with God and with others? Start with the question, "Am I living loved?"

Pastor Marc