Tuesday, January 03, 2012

Why we're all not smoking craters by now.


i heard a man say again today that there are many paths to God. He believed that maybe in four or five generations that Man was going to get it right. We were all working toward harmony apparently. Aside from this being completely antithetical to the Bible... it's Pollyannish Denial on a Psychotic scale. This guy cannot be watching the same news i am.

All day long, the more i thought about what he said, the angrier i got. i let it slide at the time because i had already gone toe to toe with this guy a couple of weeks ago and i had already gone head to head with another member of the group this morning and i'm trying to only pick on one heresy a day. Besides that, we were in a Bible Study with almost twenty guys, i wanted to see what, if anything, someone else might say in response.

Here at home though and all day at work, the man's words and my anger have been bouncing around...bouncing around, sparring, jabbing, testing defenses and poking each other in tentative ways. It was just a feeling at first but the punches got harder and sharper, faster and more wicked until just a few minutes ago when the ground beneath my anger suddenly crystalized into perfect, fiery, resonating clarity...

Jesus. Was. God!

That statement should echo in your head with white, hot thunder!

He was not a nice teacher, a guru, a life coach, an energy force, a flying spaghetti monster or your homey. He was GOD, YHWH! The Creator of Everything! Not the Ultimate Power in the Universe! He made the Universe! On a whim!! To say that God came, as a peasant; a pimply, pathetic, Jewish peasant; did what we could never do and did it perfectly and in perfect humility, died FOR US and then said, "Finished. No one has to do anything more now to be right with God. Just believe i did this." To say all that might be true but it's just one way of many for us to achieve Heaven or Nirvana or whatever you want to call it, is to walk right up to YHWH and open hand slap him in the face! You have dissed God! You mock his deed. You mock his love. You mock his compassion. You mock his mercy. You mock his grace. You mock GOD! How dare you!!

The more clear this thought became to me the angrier i got! The more i envisioned people, casting judgment on GOD for being so narrow minded as to say He is the only Way, (How intolerant. How exclusive. How dare he! How dare He? He's GOD!! That's how dare He!) the more furious i became. The more furious i became, the more i thought about how my anger must have paled next to the angels' and the Father Himself as Jews and Gentiles alike did just that to Jesus moments before the cross finished God's most amazingly loving, transforming, totally selfless work. The more i thought about this Jesus stopping all of Heaven from wreaking perfect justice on the earth at one insult, one more spit in the face after another, after another, after another, the more i fell in love with this Jesus! He didn't retaliate. He didn't even speak. He just took it. God let's us insult Him. God let's us bitchslap him! All in the hope that someday, somehow, we may realize what we've been doing and beg his forgiveness. How can you not love this God?? How can we not warn them??


3 comments:

  1. Shane, I am constantly amazed at the ferocity at which you pursue God and try and help others pursue Him as well. That being said, I have learned that if someone doesn't want to hear the Gospel, he isn't going to no matter how much we talk his ear off (argue with him.)
    Another thought I had was that Jesus did let us insult him, beat him and kill him...and he did nothing about it. I think this is the example we need to follow. We need to let our lives be the witness to others. Not many people believe in words anymore. (I sure don't) Remember, there will be those who will not understand what they hear. Let's be kind to them and sorrow for them, but to become angry with them over not being a Christian does not help them at all. Let us witness with our lives and our emotions until the are willing to listen to the words.

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  2. i was afraid it would sound like that... What i wanted to convey was not how angry i got but why and how that anger actually turned into more love for Jesus! That's what was so cool to me! It was through the lens of my anger that i realized how much God loves us!

    That said. i am beginning to realize what Jesus means that he comes bearing a two-edged sword. He cleaves the world in two. Those who will receive and those who will not. It's hard to accept, but it is not our job to be silent even though by being a witness we also can end up being tools of judgment. If the Lord speaks through me, i will be gentle, respectful, blameless and unwavering. If He does not, i will merely be a clanging gong.

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  3. shane, I love this! it stirred me up! I was touched by some of these same thoughts this morning....how can we not love this God and how can we not warn them! The fields are ripe...we are the workers. We need to continue to speak the truth, in love, and to also put that love in action (like you are by volunteering to help Kathy move on Sunday :)) I know in my own life BC (before Christ) there were numerous people that spoke to me about my need for God...and sometimes I DID get mad! But those words were seeds and some took root. By His grace they were watered and grew into true faith. So lets keep throwing out those seeds brother : ))

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