You get what you are obsessed with

I've been spending several week studying Job, because when life sucks (as it does for most of us) it helps to get perspective from a guy whose suckitude quotient is higher than most people on earth will ever experience.

For those not familiar with Job, it's the book just before Psalms in the Old Testament and tells the story of a wealthy but really great guy (feeds the poor, helps sick people does everything right) who gets attacked for no good reason, his family killed his wealth taken and his body start falling apart, all at the same time.  The he is surrounded by a bunch of friends who tell him he must have some "secret sin" in his life and God is out to get him for good reason.  Even his wife tells him to just give up and die.  I recommend reading it, because it at least has a happy ending.

But what I wanted to talk about is something from the last third of the book, where one of the friends -- the youngest who goes by the name of Elihu -- starts laying down some good advice.  As I was reading it this week, it hit me right between the eyes because it explains a lot of what is going on in the church.  The passage is in Chapter 36, starting in verse 16.  Elihu says:

¹⁶ “God is leading you away from danger, Job,
      to a place free from distress.
      He is setting your table with the best food.
 ¹⁷ But you are obsessed with whether the godless will be judged.
      Don’t worry, judgment and justice will be upheld.

That's a great description of where the church is today.  The opportunity for significant advances are right there, but rather than concentrate on reaching people for Christ, they are screaming about injustice and unrighteousness.  The result is a world who no longer believes the church represents God.

There's the real problem in religious life right now.  I know a lot of atheists and agnostics.  In my discussions with them it becomes clear, early on, that the issue is not that they don't believe in God, or that they don't really know if God exists.  What they say is that they don't believe in the God, ore even the Jesus, that the church demonstrates today.  I can't say I blame them.  I don't even believe in the God that is demonstrated by the church today.  I know a completely different God; one that is concerned with the cause of "sin" rather than the sin itself.

And that's a completely different discussion.

Like comedy, grace is hard

As I watch and participate in what goes on in life, I realize why so many people prefer to live in judgement than walk in grace.  Judgement can be quick and painless.  Grace requires a systemic view of life.  Trying to decide what's evil or good under grace causes migraines and aneurisms if it is at all possible.  Judgement, on the other hand, is is clear cut... even if you are wrong.  Hey, at least you took a position, right?

While a judgmental lifestyle is not limited to the religious crowd (just talk to someone from Greenpeace, PETA or anyone in either major political party) it is easier for a religious person to be judgmental.  If you see or hear of something that offends you you can rationalize that the offensive thing is "an affront to God" and therefore be justified in your position.  Without a "Higher Authority" justification, all you have is the position that whoever disagrees with you is just stupid.  Telling someone they are going to hell for their position is not quite as offensive as telling them they are stupid.  The latter will get you punched in the nose.  The former just gets you laughed at.

From a Christian perspective, however, (as opposed to a religious perspective) a judgmental lifestyle is counterproductive.  Christians have been given the responsibility of "preaching the Good News" to all the world, the news being that God has already forgiven them for everything they have ever done or ever will do that can be considered a sin ... by anyone ... including God.  But putting conditions on what constitutes "Christian behavior" has been part of the church condition since, oh, say the establishment of the church in Galatia in the first century.

Today, we have the same problem as then.  We like to say that we need to avoid involvement in certain practices if we want to be "really Christian," and we have all kinds of different flavors of that attitude, ranging from not wearing makeup for women, to not going to certain movies or reading certain books, all the way to political positions - on both sides of the political fence.  The reasoning for this is that you have to be careful what you put into your mind and body because bad stuff might spill out.  Jesus had a bit of a different position on that:

"It is not what enters into the mouth that defiles the man, but what proceeds out of the mouth, this defiles the man." New American Standard Bible (©1995)

We also tend to take it to the place of who we associate with, saying we shouldn't be around certain people because their lifestyles could pollute us.  Jesus had something to say about that too:

"The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, 'Look! He's a glutton and a drunk, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!'" International Standard Version (©2008)

So you can see that the judgmental lifestyle, while much easier doesn't really hold much water in an eternal perspective.  Grace, on the other hand, is just a real pain in the ... neck.

I have a friend whom I love dearly who I led to Christ many years ago.  She had somethign of a wild lifestyle but was very unhappy.  I remember sitting with her late at night aside a hotel pool during the convention we met at and walking her through a prayer of forgiveness.  It was beautiful.  

She got pregnant shortly after that and had an abortion.  I stayed with her and told her she had already been forgiven.  Happened again a few years later.  I stayed with her and told her she had already been forgiven.  She moved away, got a new boyfriend and got pregnant again.  This time she kept it, but was a single mother for a long time.  I kept telling her about Gods forgiveness.  She finally found a good man.  Got married.  Has a great marriage.  Just had another baby.

Here's the thing.  If I had been normal through this relationship, she would never have felt she could come to me about anything.  I'm not a fan of abortion, or sex outside of marriage, but that's my opinion and my life.  How God deals with me is completely different from how he deals with anyone else.  I can only be concerned with God's grace for me and when I am in a relationship, I can only be concerned with how I exhibit that grace.  That means I am in it for the long, very messy haul.

Sometimes I wish I didn't really get the whole grace thing.  I don't really.  But I get enough that I can't be comfortable with the judgement thing.  My life would be a lot easier.  I would get to hang with people who have really simple, seemingly black-and-white lifestyles.  But I have to admit, hanging with "tax collectors and sinners" is a whole lot more entertaining.