For those of you who read Stark Raving Obedience or maybe the first post in the Press, you may remember how I compared my relationship with God to joining the Rachel Leigh Cook fan club.
This morning, I heard pastor John Privett say something similar in his message. "It's one thing to know about a person but another to actually know them. Some people try to substitute the Bible for a dynamic, active relationship with Jesus."
At one point in time, I felt like I knew quite a lot about Rachel Leigh Cook, but I didn't know her. In fact, I sometimes think of how I could have only hung out with her if she initiated it. It's sort of like how Jesus told His disciples, "You didn't choose me, I chose you." But that's beside my point here.
I realize that I've put a lot of focus on the Bible lately. I've done so because people seem to have a lot of questions and want to talk about it. A Charles Spurgeon quote comes to mind today, "Defend the Bible? I would just as soon defend a lion. Just turn the Bible loose. It will defend itself." Like Spurgeon, I don't feel like I need to defend the Bible. If you want to wrestle with it, you'll find it hard to overpower.
I mentioned having a point earlier, so here it is. I wrote about this stuff because I want to encourage you to have a dynamic relationship with Jesus. I think knowing doctrine allows this, which may explain why Paul told both Timothy to be nourished on sound doctrine (1 Tim. 4:6) and Titus to hold fast to the Word so he can teach sound doctrine. Now, the purpose of doctrine is not doctrine itself, but to explain how a person can know, love, and have a relationship with God in the way He wants. But it's the very fact of God wanting things on His terms which (I think) scares people most. G.K. Chesterton once wrote "The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and left untried."
What do you think? Would you rather know and love God on His terms? How would a person even know such a thing?
Does Jesus, or even the mention of Jesus, make you nervous?
Does the Holy Spirit scare you, even though He's offering gifts?
How important is your control to you?
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3 comments:
Very probing questions. I think the hardest thing about a real relationship w/ Jesus is the surrendering of control. Of course, our control is mostly just an illusion anyway, but I think it is an illusion we have a hard time giving up. At the same time I think it is intrinsically tied to our sinful nature; man's desire to satisfy the flesh and all that.y
I like that. Control is an illusion. There's a Jewish saying, "Man makes a plan and God laughs".
I've also thought about safety in the same way. Illusory. If you ever want to know about my application of Lost to the sovereignty of God and the illusion of safety or control, let me know. It might become a post.
Excellent post - thank you for helping me think about God this morning. I really liked the quotes you used as well
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