Do Christians tend to exaggerate their relationship with the Lord?
I have a friend who is really struggling in their faith right now because they don't sense the kind of closeness to God and real relationship that they expect. Though I am sad for my friend, I admire their uncompromising quest for authenticity and it has made me begin to question the ways we talk about our relationship with God. It is so common to hear people say, "God told me this" or "God wants me to do that". Should those statements be that common? On one hand I do believe that those experiences can and should be regular. But I think that many of us fling those phrases around and allow them to be a common part of our everyday speech.
There is nothing common about the God of the universe speaking to a mortal. When the Lord speaks there is no choice but to listen and obey. He is the Lord. That is what "Lord" means.
But tonight I am more concerned about a culture, a way of talking that implies that we carry on conversations with God all the time. I know that this culture exists because I am somewhat self conscious even writing these words. I am after all in full time ministry and am expected to carry on these daily conversations with God. But if I'm honest, God's communication to me is much less dramatic and usually happens through the scriptures. In fact, most often it is when a part of my character or actions does not line up with his will. I am convicted and in that moment it is clear that God is the one who has laid me bare with those words. The beautiful thing about these moments is that they usually come with a promise of freedom through repentance. There is way out, a chance to change, to turn back to the Lord and a sense of liberation that comes with that.
For sure, there are moments when I've sensed a positive affirmation about a course of action and for me, those moments usually tend to be in corporate prayer with others. There are other cases but that has been the norm in my experience.
So, what am I asking?
I'm asking that we choose our words and what we communicate about our relationship with God very carefully. Many of us have grown in our relationship to God in contexts where the former kind of talking was the culture and we have slipped into it all to easily, allowing ourselves to interpret our experiences a little too liberally. I do believe that we should share it when God reveals himself, for that is far too special of a thing to keep to ourselves. But let's do so with humility and caution, lest we attribute something to God that is untrue. Let's be authentic and not afraid to struggle along in this journey of faith. It is still faith is it not? But God is true and his word promises that he is for us, even when we walk through the valley of the shadow of death.
3 comments:
We had this same converstation at small group last week. I really feel that Christians do more harm than good when they use "Christianese" or talk about how God has 'told' them to do some thing. One of the guys in our group who is a fairly new believer had the thought that he was doing something wrong b/c he hadn't 'heard' God in an audiable voice yet...it can be real confussing to these people...
Well, I guess I'm way behind on the game, but we've had quite a few of these sorts of conversations within our group, also. Matt Green often brings up his dissatisfaction with the idea that God just tells you to do everything, and I know and count myself among many people who bristle at the phrase "God told me to ______". But I appreciate that you show that the suggestion that maybe we're trivializing God's voice doesn't leave us without options, and that the Word of God is just the spoken voice of God. So, yah.
How many Matts can there be in one community?
Interesting topic - we actually spoke about this is staff meeting last week - how do we really interpret people who SAY that "God told me this or that"? Always raises an orange flag in my head. I wonder what it does to unbelievers.
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