Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Spiritual Cow Tipping
I've been blessed to be part of a small group reviewing a lecture series by John Bevere entitled "Driven By Eternity." This experience has rocked the foundational truths I have built my faith on. He's been a spiritual "cow-tipper" of sorts. He makes the statement that each believer will be judged by what God NOT for what they have done but if they have done what they were called to do. Wow. Think about that for a moment and let that sink in...Many well intentioned people believe that the way to heaven is by doing and/or being good. John spoke of an article published in Newsweek three years ago that stated 68% of the EVANGELICAL Christians believed that salvation through Jesus Christ wasn't the only way to heaven. I must confess that I have missed the boat too. I am always looking for things I can DO to be more active in my church. I pile on the classes with the children, various administrative tasks, bringing the treats, tend to the nursery, participate in the worship team. While it is great to help out, am I really distracting myself with all of the tasks and not really standing in the place where God meant for me to be? Or, as my worship leader would say "Am I being obedient to the heavenly vision?" If I want to be totally transparent, my honest answer would be I really don't know. Am I so busy "doing" that I haven't sat still long enough to hear God's purpose for my life clearly?
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I was having this conversation with my Muslim husband this very week!!! We are now in Ramadan so everyone fasts from sunrise to sunset, no water or food etc. It is 44 degrees C here in Egypt!!! Doing Ramadan makes you a 'good Muslim'! They have the same beliefs as Christians, that 'deeds' somehow make you a good Muslim/Christian etc.
ReplyDeleteI felt that actually if you do a 'good deed' because it is a good deed rather than just responding from someone's need in the present that you are 'doing' rather than feeling! Doing something because you are being a good Muslim/Christian! To my mind, this 'doing' for an ulterior motive is not necessarily what God might wish us to do! Like you say, there might be something that you are missing because you think you should be doing these good deeds! Often this comes from our heads, thinking what God might want us to do for him, when really we need to 'feel it'. If we stop doing and just stay still and tune in, doing nothing for a time, waiting for the impulse to do something, a something which might not make sense, then we are perhaps more likely to really do good in the world. It is often in the small things we do, without even realising it, that we are closer to doing God's work! Even a five minute conversation with someone who is truly in need and someone who touches us on some level can be more important to your life's purpose and of value to God, than a lifetime's worth of good deeds done because we think that is what God wants of us.
Working from the heart is God's work for us, I believe. And if we work from the heart then we are in the right place at the right time. Not over-extending ourselves because that is what we thing God wants from us!
Your heart is obviously in the right place, just stop and listen to it and you will hear the heartbeat of God in it!
Thank you for responding. This is a universal issue and I appreciate your insight!
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