I have been reading through the book, "Scandalous: The Cross and Resurrection of Jesus" by D.A. Carson. In his chapter titled "The Strange Triumph of a Slaughtered Lamb," Dr Carson gives the challenges that face the American church. I thought while reading them that they are the same challenges that not only the "household of God" faces but also our own households. Some of these are:
-The problems of prosperity (potential for pride, self-sufficiency)
-The rapid pace of life that squeezes what is important to the periphery
-The urgent replacing the important
-The digital replacing the personal
-Mass media affecting our thinking leaving us entertained, titillated or even bored
-The impact of Madison Avenue establishing our self-identity in many things that have no eternal significance
-The pressure that allows us to be "religious" provided it does not really matter or is private
Do you like me, often find that we blame what ails our family on sociological, historical, political, economic, psychological, or medical causes? Though we should not ignore these categories, the problem is that they lead us to look for solutions in the same places. Isn't there a cosmic tension going on between God and the Devil?
So this leads me to the question I asked myself for my home. What if God got up and walked out of my house? Would I notice? Would I miss Him or do I have all the solutions figured out through the categories above?
Reading the Book of Revelation reminds me that there is an underlying cause for the hostility and suffering that falls upon the church and the home. The Devil would like me to forget that.
D.A. Carson writes this prayer that perhaps we need to take to heart:
Forbid, Lord God, that we should rest so comfortably in our easy and restless society, that we forget that one of the driving dimensions of Christian experience is warfare - not against flesh and blood but against all the hosts of darkness who are filled with rage against us. Help us, Lord God, to see the enemy and then to deploy the gospel answers, the gospel arms, the gospel solutions, which alone are sufficient in this conflict. So return us to the cross, to faithful, glorious, grateful proclamation of the gospel, to self-death that we may follow the Lord Jesus, who died and rose on our behalf. AMEN AND AMEN.
-The problems of prosperity (potential for pride, self-sufficiency)
-The rapid pace of life that squeezes what is important to the periphery
-The urgent replacing the important
-The digital replacing the personal
-Mass media affecting our thinking leaving us entertained, titillated or even bored
-The impact of Madison Avenue establishing our self-identity in many things that have no eternal significance
-The pressure that allows us to be "religious" provided it does not really matter or is private
Do you like me, often find that we blame what ails our family on sociological, historical, political, economic, psychological, or medical causes? Though we should not ignore these categories, the problem is that they lead us to look for solutions in the same places. Isn't there a cosmic tension going on between God and the Devil?
So this leads me to the question I asked myself for my home. What if God got up and walked out of my house? Would I notice? Would I miss Him or do I have all the solutions figured out through the categories above?
Reading the Book of Revelation reminds me that there is an underlying cause for the hostility and suffering that falls upon the church and the home. The Devil would like me to forget that.
D.A. Carson writes this prayer that perhaps we need to take to heart:
Forbid, Lord God, that we should rest so comfortably in our easy and restless society, that we forget that one of the driving dimensions of Christian experience is warfare - not against flesh and blood but against all the hosts of darkness who are filled with rage against us. Help us, Lord God, to see the enemy and then to deploy the gospel answers, the gospel arms, the gospel solutions, which alone are sufficient in this conflict. So return us to the cross, to faithful, glorious, grateful proclamation of the gospel, to self-death that we may follow the Lord Jesus, who died and rose on our behalf. AMEN AND AMEN.
1 comments:
I made myself think back to what it was like in our home BC (before Christ), and I thanked God again for saving us! There was so much anger and harsh words and selfishness. I NEVER want that turmoil to return.
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