Life & Living: We ask God but....
"We ask God for something but if we don't get it then we ask one of the local gods." Those stunning words were uttered by a foreign national Christian to a friend of mine. I say the words are stunning because for many years I have heard the triumphant reports of missionaries in notable foreign countries and how Christ was overcoming their superstitions and polytheistic belief systems. Now I do not doubt that Christ does in fact bring new life to many people over the world but I recognize that many people simply cannot let go of the fatalistic beliefs of their grandfathers and fathers. If the message of the Gospel were going to fail then the Lord would not have commissioned us to "go into all the world and preach the Gospel." The Gospel will triumph in spite of challenges inside and outside the church.
Well, this is just in one part of the world, we might say. However, this morning's paper contained an article from another large country on the other side of the globe that said Christians in that country wanted to mix Christ with ancestor worship. In some parts of America, Christian belief is mixed with voodoo and other forms of paganism. For a sizeable number of people, it is Christ plus something. I have also heard Christians proclaim (from still a third foreign country) that in the line of "most important realities" in their lives that their country was first and Christ was second. Somewhere in our teaching we are apparently not able to help people see that God in Christ is the primary commitment of our lives and all other things come after Him...I mean way after Him. He is first among our loves and will not tolerate second place. One need only read the Old and New Testaments to see this.
"We ask God for something but if we don't get it then we ask one of the local gods." The more I think about this statement, the more I see 21st century America in it. How? I see three major problems that crop up in tribal religions, apart from polytheism which I have mentioned, that help shape our unbelief.
- First, We think God exists for our pleasure. We honestly think that our agenda sets His agenda, rather than the other way around. So if one deity cannot or will not give us what we want then we appeal to some other deity and feel perfectly justified in doing so. It is our dreams that count!
- Second, we think we are entitled to God's blessings. After all, we did not ask to be born but we were. Now we are God's problem, so to speak. We deserve His protection, His riches, His health, all of the good things of life. This also means that we do not have to endure conflict in our lives. We deserve to have everything smoothed out or at least to be given the means whereby we can smooth them out.
- Third, we expect the good life now! We are impatient. Our world is a fast one; most of us would not make good farmers. We want to begin our life where our parents ended theirs. The notion of telling God what we need and then some other tribal god if we do not get an immediate answer to our prayers is one way of saying that we need not take no for an answer.
"We ask God for something but if we don't get it then we ask one of the local gods." It is impossible to imagine Christians in the Book of Acts believing that there is in fact more than one God; that we are called to God's forgiveness on our terms; that God owes us an easy life; that what we want we can have right now! So I ask you, my sisters and brothers:
- Are you committed to God revealed in Jesus as the living God?
- Are you committed to the will of God wherever it leads you?
- Are you content to define your life the way God expects you to, as laid down in the Scriptures?
- Will you be patient and wait without grumbling for God's future for you?
There is more at stake in your answers than you may think.
Jerry Mercer
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