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The
upside down God of a backward minded people.
By
Ernie Garcia
One
of the most popular expressions in the church at
large the last couple years has been the ole Don't
put God in a box expression. I really think its
neat that the church is finally willing to let God
be God and put aside some preconceived notions
about who God is and how God should act.
Its
funny how when we read scripture in the gospels we
find ourselves frowning on the behavior of the
Pharisees who refused to break religious tradition
in spite of the fact that the very God they were
trying to please stood face to face with them. I
know that I personally have found myself thinking
what fruit cakes these people had to be. How could
a Pharisee that had the whole entire Torah
memorized not recognize his Messiah? How could
they not have recognized the wisdom of Jesus as
being divine?
At
the same time that some of us ponder these kinds
of thoughts, how many of us swallow bait, line and
sinker every word of the doctrinal statement of
the denomination or movement we are affiliated
with just because someone said this is how it is?
Now don't get me wrong I am certainly not saying
that church organizations are all bad but what I
am asking is this, do we really explore for
ourselves what God is doing or saying or do we
just take someone else's word for it for
credentialing purposes? Jesus Himself said it best
when He said I can only do what I see the Father
doing What is the Father doing in your life? Have
you stopped to ask Him or waited to see? Or do you
let someone else tell you what the Father is doing
in your life?
I
think it would be interesting to see What Would
Jesus Do if He was on earth today, physically like
He was 2000 years ago. What would He be doing
really? I know we all have our ideas of what he
would be doing or who he hanging around and so did
the Pharisees and Sadducees then and they were
real surprised. They were so surprised that they couldn't
accept Him as He is due to their traditions and
preconceived notions of what and who God was
supposed to be.
Am
I trying to convey a tolerance message with this
article? Absolutely not. How can anyone do that
without putting God in a box? We have grown afraid
to even deal with the possibility that God doesn't
like some things. Even if we believe God doesn't
like some things we sure better not express that
idea for the fear of upsetting someone in our
seeker sensitive setting.
I
am real sorry to say this now but God actually
hates some things that people do, he hates some of
the things that I do. That is why the coming of
Jesus to die on the cross was necessary in the
first place.
But
then there are those who say Don't force your God
concept on me and I wont force mine on you. I wont
claim that I have everything about God figured out
or for that matter I don't think I have much at
all figured out, but this I know ,the basic ideas
of my faith have been around for like 6000 years
and have withstood the test of time beautifully.
Its not some thing I made up and shaped around my
lifestyle or molded to my convenience. I've
learned that suffering with Him is a part of my
faith. I have learned that I will struggle with
different areas of my life until I receive an
eternal glorified body. This thing we call
Christianity is a difficult thing and it takes
time to develop as we are molded and pruned.
We
westerners expect everything immediately,
maturity, healing, wealth, fame etc. I serve the
God that led his people around in circles for 40
years teaching them how to deal with the freedom
He was about to give them. Spirituality takes
time.
Think
about it when we say we are broke and about to
lose everything what does He say? He says give.
When we say we are paralyzed from the waist down
what does he say? He says take up your mat and
walk? When we say Lazarus is dead he says Lazarus
come forth He is the One that walks on water, the
One who defeated death once and for all. He made
eyeballs out of mud generated from dirt and
saliva.
But
our minds and traditions whatever they are want to
dictate and summarize what He can or cannot do ,
what He does or doesn't do anymore (now that the
cannon is established).
You
know when I read of Saul of Tarsus it always
intrigues me that this man was very passionate
about persecuting Christians. He hated Christians
and liked it when then were killed. He was
appalled by their very existence and what they
were about. We know the story in Acts about how he
was converted but the part that gets me is the
bible says he began to preach the gospel at once
(Acts 9:20). Wow, what the heck happened to this
guy? His whole world was turned upside down. Can
you imagine what his friends thought? He had to
have lost his parking place at the country club.
Jesus
appeared to Saul as Himself, not some made up
cardboard savior or tradition bound messiah. It
was Jesus Himself the same Jesus that had
compassion on adulterers, prostitutes, drunks, tax
collectors, cripples, lepers, demonized and well
you get the picture. Man you talk about outside
the box He came to earth and hung out with the
lowest of the low. Where would he hang out in this
day and age if He was in your city?
The
title I came up with for this article makes sense
to me in that we think backwards it seems like
compared to what He thinks about some things and
also He tends to turn some things upside down by
being Himself. I am learning that things really
arent about what I believe about who God is but
they are about who God really is. The challenge we
have as His people is to get to know for ourselves
through prayer, devotions, the Word, worship,
whatever but learn to listen with your heart to
what He is saying, He wants to share this with you
because you are His creation , His child.
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Ernie
Garcia 31,is the youth pastor of high youth ministries
in Boone Co. He resides in Pueblo Colorado with
his wife Francine and his daughter Sloan. High
youth is a ministry of the Arkansas Valley
Vineyard Church. E-Mail highyouthmin@aol.com
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