The Disservice we do when 

we don’t tell it like it is

 

Can we talk just a bit about a worrying concern in regard to the upcoming generations and possibly something you have faced too?

Do you agree with me that all too often our world is handed a very shallow version of Christianity? Maybe you were brought up in a church culture that promoted youth groups, Sunday school classes, worship nights, camps, conferences, Bible studies and the like, which, by the way, are all good things. Maybe there were altar calls and emotional decisions made under pressure and you wanted and desired to ‘feel close to God’ but for some reason there wasn’t any depth.

There was very little actual discipleship. Maybe you weren’t taught how to study the Bible or defend the faith or how to stand firm on what you believed or even articulate what you believed.

And now, as the world around you gets darker and more hostile towards the Christian faith, you realise that the Christianity you were brought up with was very shallow.

Maybe you weren’t taught much theology. Don’t be afraid of that word. In a nutshell, it just means the study of the nature of God and his truth.

Maybe you weren’t taught how to study the Bible for yourself, instead relying on the Pastors and teachers in your church to do the hard work and spoon feed you. Possibly you weren’t taught well how to persevere under pressure or how to exercise discernment.

You were taught of God’s love and how to respond emotionally to the invitation, the lights, the music. You were taught that Jesus is the way and he can make your life better. You were taught that he was the source of your fulfilment. There was a lot of feelings, but not a lot of strong, deep-rooted faith.

And then adulthood hit. And life got hard. Marriage was difficult. Child raising was on another level. Prayers went unanswered for months or years. Anxiety was at all-time high. Your faith started costing something. And suddenly, the Christianity built mostly on feelings was no longer enough.

Emotional Christianity works fine when life is easy and things are going well. But what happens when your world comes crashing down? What happens when life gets hard and the struggles pull you to pieces? What happens when unexpected suffering arrives and the waves crash heavy overhead?

A faith built mostly on feelings will eventually collapse. It cannot be sustained. It won’t survive the storms.

I say this with humility and without any sense of pride as one who has it all under control. Because I do not. And I did not. That’s not to say that I wasn’t brought up with the right values and the right tools. It’s just that I have spent years realising that I didn’t know much. And that’s my fault. For a long time, I didn’t see the need to be discipling myself in the Word of God. I didn’t see the need for in depth study.

And I think this is why so many are ‘deconstructing’ their faith now. Not because they didn’t love God, but because there wasn’t much of a foundation underneath the emotional Christianity they experienced. They are deconstructing a faith that had very little theological foundation to begin with. They were handed a shallow version of Christianity based on feelings and emotional experiences and not biblical discipleship.  

I wonder if many Christians feel betrayed. They were told that being a Christian would make their life better, and they would be fulfilled, whole, successful, happy. And then life hit. Real life. The nitty gritty hard things.

The Word of God and Jesus himself never promised a bed of roses. He never promised an easy life. He told us to remain steadfast. Endure hardship. Overcome temptation. Stand firm. Persevere. Expect tribulations and trials.

But our modern church culture wants to keep those things hidden behind a curtain and instead portrays a very different sort of Christianity. It’s exciting. It promises wealth. Happiness.

God is love. God forgives. God cares. God will prosper you. God cares for you.

And yes, all of these things are true and backed up by Scripture. But we are doing the new Christians a disservice by not teaching them the hard truths and by not being diligent in our discipleship of them.

We are neglecting to teach them how to study the Word of God for themselves and the need to ‘try the spirits’ (1 John 4:1) to keep from falling prey to false teachers or to “search the scriptures daily” as did the Bereans in order to make sure what Paul and Silas were teaching was legit. (Acts 17:11)

I, for one, don’t want my children or grandchildren raised on emotionalism or feel-good Christianity. I want them grounded in the Word. I want them to know what they believe and why they believe it. I want their faith to be firmly rooted in Scripture. I want them to know truth. To learn from it. To practice biblical discernment. I want them to love God deeply and not crumble when life gets too hard. I want them to stand firm and hold fast even when it costs them something.

I want them to have a love for God and for his Word. I want them to be always searching and learning more of what the Bible teaches. I want them to be able to interpret verses, in context, and expound on them to others, humbly accepting correction if they have something wrong. I want them to have a desire for the whole counsel of God. Not just the easy, feel-good parts or the promises that bring comfort. I want them to feel uncomfortable with hard truth. I want them to let the Word of God pierce them (Hebrews 4:12) just as it does me the more, I read and study it.

Ask yourself this question. “What kind of faith are you passing down to your children? What kind of Christianity are you teaching in your Sunday School classes? Your youth groups? Your Bible studies?”

Perhaps some of today’s generation are beginning to search for something more solid. Maybe they are done with the lights, the fog machines, the hype. But what do we have to offer?

Only ritualism and traditions? Or do we have an authentic, Bible based, God-fearing, but loving Christianity?

Are we training our men and women to search out the Scriptures? Are we truly discipling them?

There is a growing problem in our world today amongst Christians. Bible illiteracy. Bible illiteracy is widespread. Bible literacy is not dependant on church attendance – sitting in church each week doesn’t guarantee you will go home with a better understanding of the Bible or who God is.

Bible literacy involves a deeper awareness of the meaning of what’s in the Bible. It’s the ability to rightly read and understand the Bible by using the proper tools of study.

Bible literacy involves a person’s ability to read the Bible with enough understanding to explain its basic meaning and comprehend what is meant.

Bible Study goes even deeper than Bible literacy - it is more rigorous and detail-focused. It is research focused interpretation (known as exegesis- the careful analytical study of scripture). It involves more than reading for meaning. Bible study focuses on the world behind the text such as the biblical culture and context, the archaeology and geography that support the Bible.  The social issues and events at the time the writers wrote the text.

Bible study looks into the heart of the text through word studies and language meaning etc. But Bible study doesn’t need to be complex. (More on this is this post - Bible Study)

Studying the Bible naturally leads to increase in Bible literacy.

I think this is where we are failing our new converts. We are not properly teaching them how to read and study their Bibles. And it’s a shame. It leads to shallow Christianity. And shallow Christianity doesn’t hold up under pressure.

Discipleship is hard. And if you are someone who is working with a new Chrisitan, you’ll know it’s no walk in the park. But it is so worth it. We need to be raising a new generation of strong, faith-filled, deeply rooted, discerning, obedient, tested and tried and come forth as gold, Christians!

Let’s forgo the shallow Christianity and replace it something real! Don’t hide the truth. Let the truth speak for itself. Teach the truth. All the truth.

John 8:32 KJV - And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.              

 

 

 

 

 

Is there Pain in your Praise?

 

I have loved to sing since my very earliest memory. Whether it was singing at the top of my lungs while I swung back and forth on a rope and board swing in the backyard as a child, or singing with a group of kids at Sunday School, shouting loudly, “I’m in the Lord’s Army”, or humming under my breath as I worked in my local supermarket as a teenager, or singing through tears as I stood before the congregation of our church sharing in song a message full of hope and comfort. Whatever the case, I loved to sing and I still do. Unfortunately, my voice has not aged well, and I struggle to reach the notes and keep my voice steady nowadays.

But I want to speak about something I’ve discovered over the years.

In my younger years and even in my newly married and raising toddler years, I sang about God. I sang the hymns at church, I sang specials with my family, I played the songs on the piano and knew the words by heart, but let me tell you, anyone can sing about a God they’ve heard about, but there’s a different sound that comes from someone who has walked through the fire, stumbled through the valleys and made it out alive.

Because when you walk through what seems like Hell, and you make it through alive, you come out CHANGED!

When the fires should have destroyed you, and God carries you through it, you come out different. When the storms of life see waves crashing overhead with such fierce that you feel you’re going under for the last time, and you find your footing on solid ground, you come out changed!

Darkness has a way of changing you. Valleys have a way of transforming you. Storms have a way of growing your faith.

Over they years, I’ve walked through many fires, and yes, some of those were in those early years, but the songs that come from my lips now hold a different sound. There is pain in my praise. I no longer only sing about a God I’ve heard about or a God I’ve read about, but I sing about a God who has walked with me through many trials. A God who has walked through the fire with me. A God who has weathered the storms alongside me. A God who stayed. When everything else fell apart. A God who remained faithful even when there was doubt in my heart and words of hurt on my lips. (Isaiah 43:2)

Anybody can talk about God or sing about God when life is easy, but when you cry real tears, when you face real fire, when you deal with real heartbreak and pain, when you fight real battles and survive real nights of anxiety and worry, and still lift your hands in praise anyway, that worship hits different.

There are some things you only learn about God in the fire.

You learn his peace when your world is falling apart. You learn his love when you experience heartache. You learn of his faithfulness when everybody else leaves and you are left standing alone. You learn so much of his character when you walk through hard things and he remains beside you.

You learn that he is near to the broken hearted when you see that he meets you where you are and doesn’t leave you. (Psalm 34:18)

And so, today, as I sing the same songs I have sung for 50 years, the words hit different. They hold more meaning. They speak volumes to me.

When I sing of his amazing grace, I understand what it means that he saved a wretch like me. When I sing about Heaven, I am overjoyed at the prospect of a future in eternity in the presence of my Father. When I sing of his goodness and mercy following me as I walk through the valleys, I know what it means. I’ve been there. I’ve experienced it. When I sing about tomorrow and what it holds, I know without a shadow of a doubt that he will be there, in my tomorrows, because he has proved faithful, over and over. And because he lives, I can face the future, with hope and with a peace that only he can give.

So, when you see me sing songs about God, don’t ever think I’m singing about someone I don’t know, be assured that every part of my being knows who he is and I will sing until there is no voice left in me. I will raise my hands in praise to him. I will let the tears flow unhindered down my cheeks. My voice may falter and shake but there is pain in my praise. And I won’t apologize for it.

I will stand in awe of a God who knows me intimately yet still chooses to love me. I will stand in worship of a God who sees me fall and yet keeps stretching out his hand to pick me up.

Never be ashamed of the way the message of a song hits you as you relive those hard moments in your life and remember God’s goodness to you. Praise him anyway. Let there be pain in your praise. Keep praising him. During the storm. After the storm. Before the next one arrives. Praise him anyway.

“Let not your harp then hang upon the willows but take it down, and strive, with a grateful heart, to bring forth its loudest music. Arise and chant His praise. With every morning’s dawn, lift up your notes of thanksgiving, and let every setting sun be followed with your song. Belt the earth with your praises; surround it with an atmosphere of melody, and God Himself will hearken from heaven and accept your music.”   

 C. Spurgeon

 

 

 

 

 

Listen with your Eyes

 

I’m going to show my age here, and maybe some can relate to what I’m about to say, but if not, then come along for the ride anyway and let’s see what we can learn from this thought.

Listening requires quiet.

Have you ever found yourself, driving to a new area, perhaps looking for that little coffee shop you want to try out, or possibly trying to find the street number of a house you’ve never been to before. Windows down, music playing over the speakers and instinctively, you reach for the volume dial, turning the music down to a quiet hum, or off completely, because you need to see!

You turn the music off because you need to see where you’re going. You hush those in the car, “Be quiet! I can’t see!”

This happens to me on the regular. Just ask my daughters. If we are driving into the city, in a more heavily trafficked area, or manoeuvring into a tricky parking space, I need quiet.

Logically, it makes absolutely no sense! You see with your eyes! NOT your ears!

Our brains have limited processing powers. When loud sounds, or complex music demand our attention, our brains divert resources away from our visual cortex to focus on the noise, making it harder to concentrate on complex visual tasks, like parking or finding our way in a new area.

Silence helps the brain thrive by allowing it to focus on processing and regulating information more effectively. So, there is a science behind my need for quiet at times, it’s not just old age.

It is true that what you hear, affects what you see. Too much noise clouds your focus.

One speaker said it like this, “Noise doesn’t just distract your ears, it disrupts your vision.”

What we listen to affects how we see.

Let’s bring this thought home.

If you can’t hear God, you also can’t see where he is leading you. When there is too much noise in your mind and in the environment around you, it’s harder to ‘see’ God.

We need quiet.

The concept of God’s presence in the quiet is a theme found all throughout the Bible. The theme is woven into the very fabric of Scripture, and it illustrates clearly how God often reveals himself not in the chaos and noise, but in the quiet moments of life.

One of the most well-known examples of God’s presence in the quiet is found in the story of Elijah on Mount Horeb. (1 Kings 19) After he runs from Jezebel, he experiences some crazy things. We see him deal with a powerful wind, an earthquake, and a fire. But God was not in those things, all though he caused them. His presence wasn’t in the chaos; it was in the stillness. In the still, small, voice.

In Psalm 46:10 the concept is reinforced with the command to “Be still and know that I am God”. This verse calls for us to cease striving and focus on God’s sovereignty. It suggests a quietness that is needed in experiencing God’s presence.

I won’t go into the history of having a ‘quiet time’ or where and when the phrase was coined, but we do know and Scripture backs it up, that setting aside time to spend with God is of utmost importance, whatever you like to call it.  Even the Lord Jesus saw it as important, withdrawing to solitary places for communion and prayer with his Father. (Mark 1:35)

The primary purpose of having time with God is to deepen our relationship with him and to learn from him, drawing close through prayer, reading of the Scripture, and meditating on it.

So, in order to see God more clearly, to learn of his character, we need quiet. We need times of quiet. We might listen with our ears and see with our eyes, but we need the world to shush, so that we can see.

Be quiet, I can’t see!

In a world so filled with constant noise and activity, this call to stillness and seeking God’s presence in the quiet is both countercultural and also deeply transformative. It invites us as believers to step away from our busyness and the things that distract us and find strength in the stillness.

It’s hard to hear God speak when we are letting the world shout in our ears. The devil screams in our busyness but God speaks in the stillness.

What we hear, affects what we see. And if we are letting the noise of the world keep our ears busy, we will become blind to what God has for us. It won’t just distract our ears, it will cloud our vision.

So yes, I will continue to turn the music down when I need to focus and I will most likely still be ridiculed by the younger generation for this ‘old age’ habit, but I will also intentionally practice sitting quiet before the Lord so that I can see better.

Listen with your eyes and see what you can see!