A Culturally Acceptable Christ

There are times when Christians wonder if telling people about Christ is good enough. They wonder how to make people's lives better in this world. They look at health care, financial meltdowns, and unemployment as the issues that take men away from God. And they want to solve these issues as a prelude to any conversion. I wonder sometimes if this thinking is a consequence of affluence rather than our love for Christ. It was Jesus who said that we should avoid all sorts of greed, because life doesn't consist in the abundance (or lack) of our possessions. (Luke 12:13-21)

I am not a modernist. I don't believe that knowledge is the key to life's deeper truths (and thus salvation). Nor do I believe that man has the understanding (nor ability) to create a utopian world. Whether one believes that utopia (or a better world) can be created by man's ingenuity, pragmatism, or even denial of such, I don't adhere to any of these ideas. Therefore, I am neither a modernist nor postmodernist.

As a disciple of Christ, I do believe that a better world will be created by a full realization of God's Kingdom, brought about by Christ's return. I do believe that Christian's are a witness to this, and are participants in it. I do believe that transformation is not the work of man, but of God's Holy Spirit. And I do believe that the church is God's vehicle for preserving the deeper truths, and through whom God will save the world.

Jesus died not to make us pity him, nor to admire his courage and love. He died to save us from the imminent consequences of our sin — eternal judgment from God. I am saying that the most important issue is not behavior modification, but salvation in Christ.

I sometimes get the feeling that many folks (Christians too) would be satisfied if everyone just got along a little better (sans God). However, I get the sense that God is about to defeat that thinking Himself.…

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What to Do When You Don't Know What to Do

Original photo courtesy MorguFile.com

What do you do when you don't know what to do?

Try praying, do what you know to do, and wait. It seems to be such a lost art in our driven society. We want to work toward solutions. But as Christians we probably need to value God's role more than we tend to do.

I want to evangelize the world. But the world is too big for me. I want to live a life of holiness. But my flesh gets in the way of that plan. I want to love my neighbor as myself. But I love myself too much. I want to give, serve, understand, etc. etc.

But what I need to do is pay more attention to what God already said I need to do. I need to read His Word, pray for help, and rely on God. I need to trust Jesus and obey him as a result. Where does he want me to go and do right now? I don't always know or really need to know. I really just need to rely on him and trust him with the consequences.

I frankly don't know what else there is other than that.…

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Raising the Self-Esteem of Kids

Photo courtesy Mary R. Vogt at MorgueFile.com

Want to raise the level of self-esteem in your kids? Have them accomplish something.

But here's the problem. In our culture our kids tend to have it easy. They don't really have to wait for anything. They know nothing about appointment TV. They have no concept of missing a program. Not really. They live in a world of DVD videos, downloadable TV shows and music, internet entertainment, and TiVo ^®.

They also have little concept of limited choices. They've grown up in a world where customization and personal preferences are the norm rather than the exception. They take cable television for granted, with the various choices in programming. Internet sites, blogs, and special interest groups that cater to any interest are now a societal norm. Fast food menus have an array of choices that were unimaginable in the 70's and early 80's.

Today's kids are growing up in a world where most of their research is done online. They don't have to begin at the library. They don't even need their home encyclopedia's. They just jump online. A vast wealth of information and knowledge is at their fingertips. They have no concept of going somewhere to get information.

And think about it. Busy signals and unanswered phone calls used to mean that you couldn't reach the person. Now, it means that something must be wrong. All they know is that most people can be reached in multiple ways. People are a text message, IM chat, cell-phone, email, or an online social network away. And many of these kids have cell-phones themselves, let alone email addresses, websites, social networking profiles, and on and on.

So what do you do with kids who have so much to choose from, so much time to spend, who are doing so much to achieve maximum fun and community? You create the situation for accomplishment. You train them to persevere through trials, and achieve an end goal. Then you reward them for their successes. But you don't reward mediocrity.

It sounds old-fashioned, but it works.…

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