I still have the lousy T-shirt
I’m amazed at how sometimes when life seems crazy and things are moving 100 mph in 1,000 different directions how all of a sudden, certain themes can rise through the chaos and into your head, united and ready to move you to a new place in your life.
Like the time when all seemed lost in the football world and the evil empire of the dark lord Bill Bellicheck and his jedi apprentice Tom Brady were amassing several super bowls in a row, and out of that chaos came a young football QB named Ben and an old bus who was ready to return home. All seemed lost, yet light came from all of that darkness.
This month seemed a bit like that to me when I was moving very fast in a lot of different directions and was having trouble focusing,and then this week happened. To put it bluntly, I was looking for God to do something, to move in a way, and to take me to “the next level.” I know, I know, it all seems so abstract, and it was. That was the problem.
Then the last two weeks happened. On Sunday Morning @ Fellowship, I’m going through a series called,”Live Different“, where I’m focusing on ways that we as the body of Christ, individually and corporately, can make a difference by living differently. On Easter, we started it off by discussing “Living passionately”and then we’ve dealt with “Living generously”and “Living Truthfully.”
I suppose last week when I was studying truth is when it all started. I just really had a feeling, like I have had for a while, that sometimes Christians hijack the word truth to their own end, and go who knows where with it. This week’s topic really hit me – “Living Free”.
And all of a sudden, I believe I was being hit over the head with this topic in every area of my life, and continue to be. People were coming to me talking about their situations in this area. I was having conversations with friends about this and trying to figure out why we constantly enslave ourselves as humans to every fleeting fad and event. Carie and I had begun to discucc this topic regularly in our conversations. And then my life group went there because we’ve been reading the book, “I became a Christian and all I got was this lousy T-shirt.”
The chapter we read was 6, entitled “Hungry”. In it, the author Vince Antonucci, pastor of Forefront Church in Virginia gives this amazing illustration of being hungry for Christ, and how we, as followers of Him, so many times try to feed our hunger by things and material possessions and relationships and Atari game systems (not sure what he was thinking).
He goes more into detail about how our relationship with Jesus is good, and it certainly is better than a religion, but it is not as good as abiding in Christ, which is where Christ says we should be heading. You see, relationship is good, but abiding, or being in Him, and allowing Him to be in you, is better.
Then Vince shares this illustration of a baby inside of a mother’s womb, who is abiding inside his or her mother. If you were to ask the baby how his relationship is with his mother, the baby (if it could plainly communicate the way we communicate) would probably say that he has a relationship with his mother, but actually, he could not live without his mother. He is connected to his mother. He remains inside his mother.
I have a great relationship with Jesus. I hang out with Him. I talk to Him. I even think He likes me. But I don’t want the kind of relationship with Him that I have with pretty much every other friend I have – that is, the kind that if they or I were away or moved away that I could live without them. I want to be in so tight with Him and His Father that I can’t live without Him.
I think that’s where true freedom lies.
Related posts:
A dark lord of the Sith would not have a Jedi apprentice, he would have a Sith apprentice.
Thank you Ian. My apologies to any and all Star Wars fans. I would change it, but now it’s a bit endearing to me.
[...] I think that’s where true freedom lies. [...]
#1) Great post Marty. I appreciate your integrity and honesty in these areas.
Ooops. I left “#1″ in there. #2 was going to be some geeky point about Jedi and Sith. I couldn’t bring myself to write it but I forget to take the number sign and the “1″ out of the post.
But I just realized the last line of your post links back to the top of the post. Is that some sort of deep post-modern demonstration of the self-referential nature of the truth?
Hey marty,
Thanks for posting this. I have had some great things happening by way of being “free” with Christ, with my friends, my family, co-workers, and even muyself. It is a needed change.
Also, great mention of abiding and relationship.
We were talking about this last night a bit. I don’t think it is abiding vs. relationship with Christ. I think it is important to note that abiding is the relationship.
It is through abiding that we relate to Christ. it is only when we abide that we can truly be like Him, be used by Him, please Him, continue to grow, and remain healthy.
I can’t really get my brain around the whole concept, but I try.
Love ya Bro’
Al
Love the analogy of the baby not being able to live without the mother. I am hard pressed though, to find people in my world, who are in relationship with Christ, but can live without Him and aren’t abiding in him. They are pretty synonymous terms in my mind.
I think that I often engage in a relationship with Jesus, but don’t in fact abide in him. I’m working at it and I’m getting better, but I’m not there. And I think some other people are in this place with me.
The biggest difference in my mind is this: If I were abiding (like a vine, or a baby in utero) it would be a 24/7 kind of deal. When things were good, I would praise God; when things were tough I would lean on him.
I have this tendency to be like the Israelites: Calling out to God when things are tough but thinking that I did it all myself and that I deserve all the credit when things are going well. During these periods I don’t abide, and I always suffer for it… Even in these periods, I’m still in relationship with him, just like I’m in relationship with lots of folks I don’t see or interact with on a daily basis.
as you know.. the key to this is the filling of the Holy Spirit…