Back to the basics

Since my last post, I have been wrestling with how to continue the dialog regarding the interaction between our physical and spiritual natures. I have two unfinished drafts, one a definition of terms and the other deals with the question, "do we have two natures or three natures?". I open them in my text editor, write on them for a while and then I hit a road block in the brain.

In the morning, I write down the verse of the day from both YouVersion and BibleGateway. This morning, my scriptures were:

"I tell you the truth, those who listen to my message and believe in God who sent me have eternal life. They will never be condemned for their sins, but they have already passed from death into life." (John 5:24)

Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on the earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." (Matthew 28:18-20)

At the time I read these verses I thought, "Wouldn't it be nice if it were that simple?"

I turned my attention back to the book, unChristian, by David Kinnaman, which I mentioned in my last post. The chapter I am now reading is about the issue outsiders (the author's preferred term for nonbelievers or non-Christians) have with the perceived attitude of the church that people "just need to get saved". With evidence from his organization's research, Kinnaman outlines that the message of accepting Jesus as a fix for all of life's problems is contributing to the negative image of the church held by a growing number of people in our society.

Kinnaman proceeds to state that one way to combat this overly simplified (and seemingly inauthentic) message is for churches to emphasize that our relationship with Jesus should lead to spiritual transformation. Let me stress, the ideas in unChristian are not new, they are existing ideas presented with mountains of information, based on professionally processed data.

Kinnaman states that spiritual transformation should lead to us being more like Christ and offers three areas for consideration where this transformation can be seen in our lives: our thinking, our loving and our listening.

Some quotes from this section of the book:

Thinking

"the most consistent influences on behavior is how a person thinks."

Young people are "not being taught to think" and there is a problem as they "experience a one-size-fits-all message that fails to connect with their unique sensibilities, personality or intellectual capabilities."

Loving

"Just because a person believes the right things about Jesus - this is, he or she has a highly developed biblical worldview - does not automatically make the person loving. A deep shift is needed from the sin-altered, me-first and consumer-minded perspectives that so often plague us as Christians in America."

Listening

"I [Kinnaman] have come to the conclusion that the most important character quality is soft-heartedness."

"Knowing the right answers is not sufficient; we have to be able to apply what we know. The first step is realizing what we don't know. Listening to God, through the Bible and often through other people, is how we learn. The better we listen, the more productive we become for God's purposes." (1)

This leads me "back to the basics". I've been thinking a lot about the list of grandiose thoughts and questions that I have put forth in my first few entries to this blog and I feel like God is pressing the brake pedal on those challenging, intellectual ideas.

A verse that has passed its way though my mind several times recently is Luke 16:10, "If you’re faithful in small-scale matters, you’ll be faithful with far bigger responsibilities. If you’re crooked in small responsibilities, you’ll be no different in bigger things." (VOICE) I think that God is steering me back to a smaller idea, a smaller vision, for the time being.

About a year ago, I had an idea for something called "Day-by-Day Discipleship". I believe it is this idea to which God is currently directing my attention and efforts. I believe the questions of our physical and spiritual natures' interaction with God's grace and truth, how this applies to humanity in general, and the queer community specifically, will be future conversations and blog entries; for now, I'm going to do my best to be faithful in the little things.

Thank you for taking the time to read!

1 - unChristian. David Kinnaman. Baker Books. 2007. Pages 81-82.