Young Folks Thinkin'
After a typical day at work I had two things happened that makes me think about Christianity in a general kind of way.
The first thing that happened was I took my 4 year old daughter to the pool. Thinking that there aren't many more days this year to do this, that is what I am trying to do. Luckily we had the pool to ourselves and we had a grand ole time enjoying the pool to ourselves. For some crazy reason she thinks that TWO people can play Marco / Polo. The one that is "IT" calls out "Marco" (with their eyes closed ~ my little girl peeps) the other(s) are/is supposed to call out "polo". The point is the person that is IT is supposed to listen and chase the ones that are not IT. Anyway, in my daughter's infinite wisdom she deemed it necessary that she and I play this. The pool void of other people ~ no big deal. She even conned me into wearing one of her pairs of pink glasses. We were stylin' big time. I lost my "man card" for the day. Who could I stylin' for anyway? The world? I'd rather style for my daughter.
In the midst of this insanity, the sun as it always does began to chase the horizon. A dark cloud blocked the sun from our view. This resulted in a beautiful cloud with rays radiating from the edges of the cloud in every direction, but mostly upwards. It had a majestic look and for all we know and for all my little girl knew Jesus could have been sitting on the other side of that cloud. She looks at me and says "Daddy, I think God is trying to tell us something." How profound is that? We had earlier talked about all the things God created and I pointed to the trees, the grass, the elephant ears near the building, the sand, the clouds ~ everything! Then we have this beautiful event with the sun and the clouds. Only God could have created this scene. It wasn't accidental.
The wisdom of a little girl, who doesn't understand the concept of "Marco Polo", clearly understood the splendor of God. He is telling us something everyday. It is this child-like innocence and perceptions that we as Christians should have.
Later at a volleyball game, I had an conversation with a teenager who brought up very good points about church denominations. Youth in her circles seem to understand that these denominations are completely destructive to the one and only Gospel of Grace that was divinely inspired and penned by the Apostle Paul. It is amazing to me that some of our young folks understand what our purpose is and that purpose is to reach the lost. They understand that this infighting makes all of us look ridiculous. The Methodist sneer at the Baptist. The Baptist laugh at the Pentecostals' tendency of getting into worship. I personnally love spirited worship as long as it is Spirit-led and not manufactured (sad to say...I've seen it right there on Whiskey Road). This list could go on and on.
To the world, we are a bunch of religious nuts who can't even agree on what day to come together in fellowship and Bible study. There are so many barriers that our younger generations are breaking down. My only reminder is that God's standard is absolute. It doesn't matter how many cool ideas you come up with, His standard is absolute and it is absolute because He does not change. Times change. Man changes. God does not change.
The absolute is that Jesus died as a living sacrifice for our sins, was buried, and was resurrected. The absolute is that we ought to call ourselves members of the Body of Christ. The absolute is that we are Christians. These denominations is a result if ignorance gone deceived (yes I borrowed this phrase). This is a result of a failure of the Body of Christ to "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman who needeth not be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of truth" - 2 Timothy 2:15. If we had done this to the nth degree we'd all conclude that there is indeed ONE GOSPEL - we'd just be Christians.
It is so amazing and sad how so many people get wrapped around the axle of their little denominations. Our children recognize this fallacy. When are we going to wake up and perceive like teenagers and like four year olds? What is God trying to tell us?
The first thing that happened was I took my 4 year old daughter to the pool. Thinking that there aren't many more days this year to do this, that is what I am trying to do. Luckily we had the pool to ourselves and we had a grand ole time enjoying the pool to ourselves. For some crazy reason she thinks that TWO people can play Marco / Polo. The one that is "IT" calls out "Marco" (with their eyes closed ~ my little girl peeps) the other(s) are/is supposed to call out "polo". The point is the person that is IT is supposed to listen and chase the ones that are not IT. Anyway, in my daughter's infinite wisdom she deemed it necessary that she and I play this. The pool void of other people ~ no big deal. She even conned me into wearing one of her pairs of pink glasses. We were stylin' big time. I lost my "man card" for the day. Who could I stylin' for anyway? The world? I'd rather style for my daughter.
In the midst of this insanity, the sun as it always does began to chase the horizon. A dark cloud blocked the sun from our view. This resulted in a beautiful cloud with rays radiating from the edges of the cloud in every direction, but mostly upwards. It had a majestic look and for all we know and for all my little girl knew Jesus could have been sitting on the other side of that cloud. She looks at me and says "Daddy, I think God is trying to tell us something." How profound is that? We had earlier talked about all the things God created and I pointed to the trees, the grass, the elephant ears near the building, the sand, the clouds ~ everything! Then we have this beautiful event with the sun and the clouds. Only God could have created this scene. It wasn't accidental.
The wisdom of a little girl, who doesn't understand the concept of "Marco Polo", clearly understood the splendor of God. He is telling us something everyday. It is this child-like innocence and perceptions that we as Christians should have.
Later at a volleyball game, I had an conversation with a teenager who brought up very good points about church denominations. Youth in her circles seem to understand that these denominations are completely destructive to the one and only Gospel of Grace that was divinely inspired and penned by the Apostle Paul. It is amazing to me that some of our young folks understand what our purpose is and that purpose is to reach the lost. They understand that this infighting makes all of us look ridiculous. The Methodist sneer at the Baptist. The Baptist laugh at the Pentecostals' tendency of getting into worship. I personnally love spirited worship as long as it is Spirit-led and not manufactured (sad to say...I've seen it right there on Whiskey Road). This list could go on and on.
To the world, we are a bunch of religious nuts who can't even agree on what day to come together in fellowship and Bible study. There are so many barriers that our younger generations are breaking down. My only reminder is that God's standard is absolute. It doesn't matter how many cool ideas you come up with, His standard is absolute and it is absolute because He does not change. Times change. Man changes. God does not change.
The absolute is that Jesus died as a living sacrifice for our sins, was buried, and was resurrected. The absolute is that we ought to call ourselves members of the Body of Christ. The absolute is that we are Christians. These denominations is a result if ignorance gone deceived (yes I borrowed this phrase). This is a result of a failure of the Body of Christ to "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman who needeth not be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of truth" - 2 Timothy 2:15. If we had done this to the nth degree we'd all conclude that there is indeed ONE GOSPEL - we'd just be Christians.
It is so amazing and sad how so many people get wrapped around the axle of their little denominations. Our children recognize this fallacy. When are we going to wake up and perceive like teenagers and like four year olds? What is God trying to tell us?
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