February 2007 Archives
"The season of Lent has not been well observed in much of evangelical Christianity," writes Dennis Bratcher. But things are changing. "Many of the churches that had originally rejected more formal and deliberate liturgy are now recovering aspects of a larger Christian tradition as a means to refocus on spirituality in a culture that is increasingly secular." More of us are discovering (or rediscovering) Lent.
I'm looking forward to observing Lent beginning tomorrow. I'm working through A.W. Tozer's book The Radical Cross. Tozer writes:
Though the cross of Christ has been beautified by the poet and the artist, the avid seeker after God is likely to find it the same savage instrument of destruction it was in the days of old. The way of the cross is still the pain-wracked path to spiritual power and fruitfulness.So do not seek to hide from it. Do not accept an easy way. Do not allow yourself to be patted to sleep in a comfortable church, void of power and barren of fruit. Do not paint the cross nor deck it with flowers. Take it for what it is, as it is, and you will find the rugged way to death and life. Let it slay you utterly.
I'm also keeping a Lenten blog with a selection from the book every day between now and Easter. You can follow along at RadicalCross.info, or subscribe to the feed.
Cerulean Sanctum asks if God really helps those who help themselves:
One of the most neglected verses in American Christendom states:
Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. —Psalms 127:1 ESV
We bristle at the notion that we can't do it ourselves. Yet look around at the expediency that passes for ministry in large swaths of the American Church and you'll spy plenty of ministry projects in which the ministry built the house, God having little say in the construction. People will ooh and aah at the pretty thing that arose from nothing. Perhaps years later, the same folks will wonder why the pretty thing failed miserably.
Jesus said this:
"Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise." —John 5:19 ESV
An uncommon principle in American Christianity, that we should do nothing unless we see the Lord leading. I wonder what Christianity in this country would look like if we did nothing except what we saw the Father doing? Might this not transform every aspect of how we live the Faith?
I've talked out my own issue with some well-known ministries and their response always concerns me doing something, anything, so long as I'm doing. Doesn't matter if the Lord's building the house or not. Just do. Because it's how they operate their own ministry.
Talk to leaders in Third World countries, though, and they wait until the Lord moves. This idea of "God can't steer a parked car" doesn't exist in their Christian playbook. They seek God until he makes a way where there is no way. They don't go around trying to dynamite doorways out of granite just to be doing something.
