2-24-14<\/p>\n
I have a great new friend, and in the process of getting to know each other, she has been condensing portions of her life story into what she calls \u201cReader\u2019s Digest versions,\u201d as do I, and we return, and will, to share details. Life is about the stories, of course, not their titles. I have come to appreciate, in literature and not only in conversations, that the gift of revelation is in storytelling, but the gift of self-revelation is in our choice of labels, titles, and summaries.<\/p>\n
So \u2013 setting aside, here, the conversations with a friend, but in larger senses \u2013 I have been thinking about the codes we all use, whether short stories tell about great narratives, or a phrase can represent great truths. A major risk we face is \u201creductio ad absurdum\u201d: oversimplification. I have observed, in the Christian context, that some churches today \u201creduce\u201d certain messages of God to present, in effect, the Six Commandments (or so) instead of 10; or, worse yet, repackage what effectively becomes the \u201c10 Options.\u201d Or, you know, Jesus\u2019 \u201cSuggestions From the Mount.\u201d<\/p>\n
But the opposite risk is to pile on, adding to the gospel: over-intellectualization. Martin Luther called Reason the enemy of Faith. With encyclopedia versions instead of Reader\u2019s Digest versions of biblical truths, we can lose God\u2019s Word in the weeds! The simplest message is the most profound. What doth the Lord ask of us? I am reminded of a conversation between Jesus and Peter.<\/p>\n
\u201cDo you love me?\u201d he asked Peter, recorded in the 21st chapter of John. In fact, He asked Peter \u2013 the impulsive, the quick and often presumptuous apostle \u2013 \u201cDo you love me?\u201d three times. We should note that He did not challenge Peter with the agendas of contemporary Christianity: Do you know Me? Do you serve Me? Do you defend Me? Or even, Do you work for Me? <\/p>\n
\u201cDo you love Me?\u201d <\/p>\n
Jesus asks us the same question. Don\u2019t be quick to answer, \u201cWhy else would I be serving others and doing good works and attending church and praying? I do these things because I love You! Of course I love You!\u201d If that is the nature of our answer, we get the order of importance reversed. And we should realize that Jesus really, simply, merely asks us a Yes or No question.<\/p>\n
It is not only greed and sin that lurk in the verse that warns, \u201cFor what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?\u201d (Matt. 16:26). It surely can refer to Christians who fall short in nurturing their souls, who interfere with the Spirit\u2019s nurture of their own spirits, because they scurry about like wind-up Christians. In love with projects, and worship services, and meetings\u2026 and maybe, not quite so much, in love with Jesus. <\/p>\n
\u201cDo you love Me?\u201d<\/p>\n
Christians who were once messed up and found their Savior\u2026 can mess themselves up again. For \u201cchurchy\u201d reasons. This is sin, too; and grieves the Heart of Jesus. We need to look beyond the Reader\u2019s Digest and bumper-strip versions of the Gospel, and likewise strip away the ponderous rules and restrictions of men \u2013 the barnacles on Jesus\u2019s fishing-boat \u2013 and be still. Be still and know that He is God. Listen. <\/p>\n
Listen to the question Jesus asks. Listen for the Heartbeat of the Savior.<\/p>\n
Then, although both things are profitable to our troubled souls, we can discern the difference between our personal cries in certain situations for the peace of God\u2026 and the life-long Love affair we should desire with the God of Peace.<\/p>\n
+ + +<\/p>\n
An anthem about the bare-bones, essential priority of loving God, in spite of everything else in our lives, is the powerful \u201cYet Will I Sing,\u201d by Audra Lynn Hartke, singer and worship leader at the International House of Prayer in Kansas City. Graphic slideshow by beanscot.<\/p>\n