Unconventional Spiritual Truths
Here are some spiritual lessons I have learned in the 20 plus years since I became a Christian. These are lessons that I wish I had learned sooner, but as is often the case, we tend to learn the biggest lesson in life at moments of crisis and pain:
1) Being a Christian does not give you immunity from life's trials and struggles: I remember being a naive and young 15 year old, who had just "accepted Christ as His Lord and savior" after being witnessed to by some friends in Secondary School, and thinking that "if I just obeyed the Bible to the best of my ability" I would be immune to life's trials. I have since learned that no matter how long you have been "walking with God' there is no such think as immunity from trials. You can learn to live with joy in the midst of tribulation, but the ups and downs of life are a given.
2) All suffering is not always a matter of reaping what you sow: How many times have we heard someone quote the ever popular verse from Galatians 6:7 about reaping what we sow. While this is a general principle that applies in many cases, it cannot be used as a one size fits all formula to explain all incidents of suffering. Are children born to abusive parents somehow "reaping what they sowed"? Are children born with birth defects of severe chronic illness "reaping what they show"? Are all citizens who are victims of dictatorial authoritarianism reaping what they sowed? If a woman is viciously assualted and raped and left with phyical and emotional scars, is she "reaping what she sowed"? If a plane crashes and all passengers die, does that mean they were all "reaping what they sowed" because they were somehow the most notorious and devious people alive in their communities? These assumptions would be ludicrous and absurd, and Jesus even dispelled this notion in Luke chapter 13:1-4 and when he talked about a man that was born blind (John 9:1-5)
3) The message of God's grace is the core of the Gospel, but it is very hard to fully comprehend: Within the last 10 years, I realized that the core message of the Gospel is the good news of God's grace - God's one way love for humanity which is NOT based on our ability to perform for him. This message, however, is very hard to teach and almost impossible for the human heart to comprehend because we live in a world which is filled with so much "ungrace" or conditional "love" that is doled out based on performance. So the end result is that most Christians know about grace in theory, but deny it in practice, which is quite unfortunate, because there are so many hurting people in the world who need heavy doses of God's grace.
There is nothing I can do to enable God to love me more, nothing I can do to make him love me less. This is really a phrase I got from reading Philip Yancey's "what's so Amazing about grace?" This is an extension of point #3 above and simply means that we don't gain lose our status as God's children based on our behavior, while it is true that behavior does have earthly consequences, it is a misleading notion to think that God accepts or rejects us based on anything other than the love expressed through Jesus. If we were to be judged based on our behavior or attempts at obeying the Bible, we would all be in bad shape.
4) The church is almost always in a struggle against self-righteousness: One of the constant struggles in Christendom is whether to really accept our total dependence on God and His message of Grace or to erect self-righteous monuments to ourselves where we accept or reject people based on their perceived obedience to Biblical Law. Once you understand what it really means when the Bible says that "we have all sinned and fallen short of God's glory" (Romans 3:23) you quickly realize that while I may be able to lovingly try to help someone who is struggling with self-destructive habits or thoughts, it is not my job or anyone else's for that matter to condemn that person, because we all have our issues that we struggle with, everyone from the pastor to the lay person in the pews. Unfortunately, however, self-righteousness - the notion that I am more acceptable than you because I keep certain aspects of Biblical law - is such a rampant and subtle temptation in religious circles that one can easily get swept away in it. The goal, however is to always remember our own flaws, not in a spirit of self-flagellation, but to keep us humble and prevent us from condemning others.
5) All Christians have their humbling "thorn in their flesh": I borrow the thorn in the flesh phrase from the teachings of the Apostle Paul where he talks about some affliction that plagues his soul in 2 Corinthians 12:7-10. We never really get to know what this "thorn" is, but we do know that God, for whatever reason, does not take it away. Paul says this experience keeps him humble. When you get beyond the neat little masks that we often wear to hide our flaws, you will quickly realize that even in the most religious settings - especially in the most religious settings- we all have our unique struggles and thorns. It no longer shocks me to know that some of the people whom we assume have it altogether struggle in ways that we would rarely imagine. The fact that we thrive despite these issues is a testament to God's grace.
Stephen O. Akinduro
Here are some spiritual lessons I have learned in the 20 plus years since I became a Christian. These are lessons that I wish I had learned sooner, but as is often the case, we tend to learn the biggest lesson in life at moments of crisis and pain:
1) Being a Christian does not give you immunity from life's trials and struggles: I remember being a naive and young 15 year old, who had just "accepted Christ as His Lord and savior" after being witnessed to by some friends in Secondary School, and thinking that "if I just obeyed the Bible to the best of my ability" I would be immune to life's trials. I have since learned that no matter how long you have been "walking with God' there is no such think as immunity from trials. You can learn to live with joy in the midst of tribulation, but the ups and downs of life are a given.
2) All suffering is not always a matter of reaping what you sow: How many times have we heard someone quote the ever popular verse from Galatians 6:7 about reaping what we sow. While this is a general principle that applies in many cases, it cannot be used as a one size fits all formula to explain all incidents of suffering. Are children born to abusive parents somehow "reaping what they sowed"? Are children born with birth defects of severe chronic illness "reaping what they show"? Are all citizens who are victims of dictatorial authoritarianism reaping what they sowed? If a woman is viciously assualted and raped and left with phyical and emotional scars, is she "reaping what she sowed"? If a plane crashes and all passengers die, does that mean they were all "reaping what they sowed" because they were somehow the most notorious and devious people alive in their communities? These assumptions would be ludicrous and absurd, and Jesus even dispelled this notion in Luke chapter 13:1-4 and when he talked about a man that was born blind (John 9:1-5)
3) The message of God's grace is the core of the Gospel, but it is very hard to fully comprehend: Within the last 10 years, I realized that the core message of the Gospel is the good news of God's grace - God's one way love for humanity which is NOT based on our ability to perform for him. This message, however, is very hard to teach and almost impossible for the human heart to comprehend because we live in a world which is filled with so much "ungrace" or conditional "love" that is doled out based on performance. So the end result is that most Christians know about grace in theory, but deny it in practice, which is quite unfortunate, because there are so many hurting people in the world who need heavy doses of God's grace.
There is nothing I can do to enable God to love me more, nothing I can do to make him love me less. This is really a phrase I got from reading Philip Yancey's "what's so Amazing about grace?" This is an extension of point #3 above and simply means that we don't gain lose our status as God's children based on our behavior, while it is true that behavior does have earthly consequences, it is a misleading notion to think that God accepts or rejects us based on anything other than the love expressed through Jesus. If we were to be judged based on our behavior or attempts at obeying the Bible, we would all be in bad shape.
4) The church is almost always in a struggle against self-righteousness: One of the constant struggles in Christendom is whether to really accept our total dependence on God and His message of Grace or to erect self-righteous monuments to ourselves where we accept or reject people based on their perceived obedience to Biblical Law. Once you understand what it really means when the Bible says that "we have all sinned and fallen short of God's glory" (Romans 3:23) you quickly realize that while I may be able to lovingly try to help someone who is struggling with self-destructive habits or thoughts, it is not my job or anyone else's for that matter to condemn that person, because we all have our issues that we struggle with, everyone from the pastor to the lay person in the pews. Unfortunately, however, self-righteousness - the notion that I am more acceptable than you because I keep certain aspects of Biblical law - is such a rampant and subtle temptation in religious circles that one can easily get swept away in it. The goal, however is to always remember our own flaws, not in a spirit of self-flagellation, but to keep us humble and prevent us from condemning others.
5) All Christians have their humbling "thorn in their flesh": I borrow the thorn in the flesh phrase from the teachings of the Apostle Paul where he talks about some affliction that plagues his soul in 2 Corinthians 12:7-10. We never really get to know what this "thorn" is, but we do know that God, for whatever reason, does not take it away. Paul says this experience keeps him humble. When you get beyond the neat little masks that we often wear to hide our flaws, you will quickly realize that even in the most religious settings - especially in the most religious settings- we all have our unique struggles and thorns. It no longer shocks me to know that some of the people whom we assume have it altogether struggle in ways that we would rarely imagine. The fact that we thrive despite these issues is a testament to God's grace.
Stephen O. Akinduro
posted by Stephen O. | 8:08 AM
1 Comments:
Thanks for writing this. I loved it! I have sent it on to others who will enjoy it as well,
God's richest blessing to you.
Shirl
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