Christ in you, the hope of glory
I wonder what people see when they meet me. What are the first impressions that turn out true? What surprises people? What do they leave thinking and assuming about my personal, my life?
Earlier this week, my family had a couple of people stay a few nights with us. I would like to think that these people have become some new friends. They were nice, gracious guests… and I find my self so insecure about what they left thinking about me. It’s really a baseless insecurity, but it’s there.
At work, I just got moved to a new team with a new supervisor. So what do people think of this new guy? Is my supervisor looking forward to having me, or am I an expected burden? Again, all groundless insecurities but still there they are.
My overall desire is that people will end up glad they met me. If I’m honest, I do have good things to offer… but that’s not what I want people to be glad about. I would really like to be respected and someone people want to work with… but that’s not why I want people to be around me. Don’t get me wrong, I want people to like being around me because they think I’m great, full of great ideas and awesome things to offer others. Heck, if I’m honest (again) I can see that I’m a prideful ass in most of my grabs at attention. “Look at my and how great I am… VALIDATE ME!” Even though this arrogant pride is there, at my core I want people to think well of me for another reason.
As church cliché as it sounds, I want people to see Jesus in me. At the very least, I want them to see someone who longs for Jesus because I know that without him I really am full of bullshit and amount to nothing. I don’t want people to feel evangelized to after meeting me. I don’t want people to feel bludgeoned over the head with Church. I don’t want people to feel weird because I’m obsessed with Jesus. I want people to intersect with me and leave thinking more about Jesus, questioning more, wanting to be like Jesus because they met someone who wants to be like Jesus. I don’t want to be a Jesus douche, but I do want to be a witness with my being… a witness to the hope of humanity… a witness to love.
So, I think about my new friends, about my new team at work, about the people I share life with, my old friends, the people I don’t talk to enough, the people in our church community… I wonder what they think about me. Do they think about Jesus because of me?
Getting to know you…
This is a recreation of a post I lost due to a database crash. So if you saw it previously and are wondering, “What the heck?” that’s what’s up.
Something occurred to me recently. I’ve blogged in some form since 2004(ish). I registered my domain in 2008, and have written at CulturalSavage ever since. In all that time I have never had the foggiest idea of who is actually reading my ramblings. I figure now is as good a time as any to change that.
So, here is your chance to tell me all about you. Do you blog? Do you like bacon? How much coffee do you drink? Do you have a family? What are your ideas on double predestination? Where are you from? What are your spiritual beliefs? How awesome are you? What is your name for crying out loud!?
I’ve said enough on this blog already. Now it’s your turn. Who the heck are you?
Saturday Rant
Angles and prophets carried a message of hope and God’s great deeds in ages past. Now, celebrity preachers write books, travel to conferences, and leave pulpits to further their ministry. Why do our methods of proclaiming the topsy-turvy kingdom of God now look so sleek,so familiar to our internet culture? Inverting the old ways just leads to something we are comfortable with, something like us, something devoid of prophetic life.
The value of a martyr is not that they are brave enough to die. The true glory of martyrdom is the life preceding the death, a life that by its very way of expression proclaims something so different, so other, so holy they powers that be deem it as a threat to their familiar, their safe, their way of wielding power.
So, why does a blessed christian life look so much like the American dream? Why do pastors we think successful look like CEO’s, motivational speakers, and entrepreneurs?
The danger of conforming to the world is not that we will end up looking like the unwashed masses. The real devastation comes when our life loses its prophetic voice because the home we point to looks exactly like the demon of success. Maybe we should sell everything we have, give the money to the poor, and follow Jesus… not because poverty is more spiritually pure, but rather because that kind of action is so unfamiliar to our beautiful, savvy culture that shops at Ikea.
If our Message is Jesus and his new kind of life, should we really be telling people Jesus will give them everything they have ever day dreamed of?
Father, Husband, Theological Dreamer, Web Designer, Photographer, Coffee Chugger... It's kind of like listening to a cross between guerrilla radio and a street corner prophet with a bad case of tourettes.
