Jesus, instead of being internalized and accessible to us as he should, is withheld from us, made into a magical being that we can never hope to approach, let alone try to follow...When Jesus is held up as the object of our worship instead of God, or when we worship Jesus as an image of God, then we have objectified him, made him something external. That is treating him like an idol...as long as Jesus is held off at arms length as being external and superior to us in every way, how can we invite him in? How can we find him in us if we are looking outside of us for him?
If we intellectualize Jesus, we are doing the same disservice.
Let's say an immature, selfish man comes to church and likes what he hears. He knows that he has flaws in his makeup. Yes, he feels very inferior and in need of fixing. So, despite (or aided by) the emotional singing of the invitation call, he makes a very rational decision to accept Jesus as his personal lord and savior. He doesn't even know what 'personal lord and savior' really mean. Are they different? Why is it personal? "Maybe this is like learning chemistry in college-- just accept it and stop trying to figure it out!" is what he tells himself. Some people do define faith in just that way.
As each Sunday goes by, he begins to interpret that what everyone is talking about is an intellectual agreement that Jesus died on a cross for all of our sins, so now we get to go to heaven when we die because we're all in agreement that this as a fact. (Jesus has just been intellectualized)
"Hmmmm... So this is all there is to being a Christian?" he asks someone one day.
"Well, yeah... You can always go to this other Bible study, join this group...You just need to have faith!"
Maybe that's it-- he just doesn't have enough faith! (something else we've externalized)
So he really tries hard. Maybe, if he just tries a little harder... a little harder... a little harder...
The harder he tries, the more elusive all of this is to him, and he ends up frustrated and defeated. He's just as immature and selfish, and now he is also even more unhappy with himself. But, he sure looks good on the outside!
He is spiritually starving!
No comments:
Post a Comment