Timeline Christianity

Facebook is a baffling phenomenon to me.  It's a wonderful way to re-connect with old friends or even make new ones.  It can be a great asset in developing relationships for a cause or promoting anything under the sun.  But it many respects, it has created a mask for its users, a false sense of who they really are by granting them the ability to control what they post and what others can see about them.  Among the many things that appear on my newsfeed, I frequently see pictures from the group "Jesus Is My Savior."  The group has over 80,000 likes and over 2,000 people "Talking About This."  The last picture that I saw from them made me cringe when it claimed "Jesus died on a cross for us, yet only 3% of us care about his enough to help spread his word- even though its their Christian duty!  So join the 3% that actually cares.  All you have to do is hit 'share' to help spread this message."  

As much as I enjoy Facebook, I think it has done Christianity a disservice and I need to catch myself sometimes.  While it can be a tremendous avenue for generating awareness, news, and relationships for the sake of the Gospel, I fear that it has tainted the meaning of the phrase "love Jesus."  It seems as if we have been lulled into thinking that updating our status' with Bible verses or sharing quotes from Charles Spurgeon or convicting pictures translates into social justice.  In a sense we have developed a "Timeline Christianity" that supposedly indicates our devotion to discipleship.  Even though it is commendable for us to wear our hearts on our Timelines, is this what Jesus has been calling His disciples to all along?  Recall his conversation with Peter in John 21: 15-17... 

When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon son of John, do you truly love me more than these?"  "Yes, Lord, " he said, "You know that I love you."  Jesus said, "Feed my lambs."  Again Jesus said, "Simon son of John, do you truly love me?"  He answered, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you."  Jesus said, "Take care of my sheep."  The third time he said to him, "Simon son of John, do you love me?"  Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, "Do you love me?"  He said, "Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you."  Jesus said, "Feed my sheep."

I am in no position to judge anyone's heart because I have no way of knowing where their conviction spurns to action.  That forever remains between them and the Lord.  But my own heart tells me that clicking the "Like" button is far easier than putting food in the orphan's mouth.  It is more convenient to "Share" a picture than get in the trenches and suffer spiritual warfare with brothers and sisters in Christ.  It is just plain harder to give time to serve the widow or re-route a lifestyle on behalf of the oppressed.  Why?  Because there is a great cost involved, a sacrifice that is counter-intuitive to our nature.  If we really love Jesus Christ, if we truly want to serve Him, then we must feed His sheep.  There are many out there whose lives' reflect their posts and the world is a better place because of it.  This is not about bashing anyone for surface-level Christianity, but rather a challenge for reflection.  I'm going to continue using  Facebook to advance the Gospel and I hope you do too.  

But shame on us if our Christianity is confined to the internet.

If you do too, then feed His sheep.

Striving for real discipleship,

MH

        

An Exhausted Hallelujah

Oh Heavenly Father,

For months on end, I dreamt of the days when fatigue would no longer enslave me, when days full of dizziness and nausea would cease.  I longed to feel the Resilite of a wrestling mat underneath my feet again and stand in the trenches with my brothers as they prepared, day in and day out, to achieve their dreams.  I was locked in brutal struggle with one of the Enemy's most formidable agents, who wreaked more than just physical havoc.

Lord, Your temple was battered, but it is being rebuilt.  It is an experience unlike anything I have ever encountered.  It is excruciating and beautiful.  At times, it is discouraging, yet seeds of hope are beginning to sprout.  Every drop of sweat is an offering.  Each painful repetition is a "thank-you."  Every shot drilled is an act of gratitude and every sprint is an exhausted "hallelujah."

Your faithfulness is not forgotten.  Please accept these tokens of thankfulness.

Amen.

MH

Wrought

I believe I was in the 4th grade...

On a brisk, fall afternoon, the 4th grade classes of Valley Christian Academy took a tour of a replicated colonial village.  Most of the day was very uninteresting to me.  The mini-seminars on cloth making, butter churning, and broom making didn't exactly get my blood pumping.  However, towards the end of the tour, they did take us into the blacksmith shop.  With cold toes and a face still sticky from the orchard apple I had just eaten, we eagerly huddled into a dimly lit, but warm workspace.  I watched as the blacksmith started with a plain metal rod.  He laboriously heated, re-heated, stretched, hammered, twisted, and shaped the rod into what would later become a beautiful piece of art.  Maybe it was just the fact that this bored young boy was easily amused by metal and fire and pounding on an anvil, but something caught my eye that day.  I was in awe of authentic workmanship.

Hand-crafted products are becoming increasingly valuable in our world today.  All of the advancement in technology has slowly, but significantly bled out the number of true artists who work with their hands, those who take raw hunks of any given material and forge them into beautiful masterpieces.  If you've never witnessed it (or even if you have), I highly recommend you watch this video before you continue reading:  The Forged Rose.

In the grand scheme of things, you and I are just raw pieces of metal, brittle and unrefined.  When we truly encounter the Lord and make a commitment to discipleship, He begins to prepare us for glory.  This formation takes place through every circumstance that we encounter.  But as you saw in the video, the metal has to be heated to an extreme temperature before it is workable.  It's elemental composition has to be broken down for the artist can make something beautiful.  Everything that has happened, is happening, and will happen in our lives is all a part of this process.  The Master Craftsman is forging our endurance through suffering, that our endurance would produce character, and character would produce hope (Romans 5:3-4).  The fire of trials may break us down physically, emotionally, and even spiritually.  Yet it is in these most vulnerable moments that we are most desperate for the Lord.  We are ready to be formed.  And when He begins to work, it is unlike anything you have ever experienced before.  It is beautiful and difficult all at the same time, yet the hope that it produces is valuable beyond measure.  

Nobody likes the fire.  We would all rather God just snap His fingers and turn us into something beautiful.  But there is no dependency on His love in that.  There is no desperation for His faithfulness.  There is no choice.  He knit us together in our mother's womb with feelings, emotions, and a will, not so that trials would deter us from Him, but so that these things would allow us to experience His presence and faithfulness more fully.  Even in the fire, we must ask for the grace to glimpse the big picture.              

There will be a day when everything is made new.  Tears will stop flowing, hospital visits will end, and suffering will be but a distant memory.  On that day, we will be beautiful roses on display, wrought from our Heavenly Father's hands.  All of our radiance will be a magnificent reflection of the glory of the One who crafted us.  We may remember our suffering on earth, but only that it brought us closer to this day.

But today is not that day.  Until then, hold on to some hope.

Wrought,

MH