10/1/10:
I attended the AACC (American Association of Christian Counselors) National meeting in Branson, MO. Friday morning, well-read author Larry Crabb said something I’ll probably never forget: “Christianity in the United States is 3,000 miles wide and about an inch thick.”
Wow – what a way to put it. Is it true? Do most Christians in the United States not take the opportunity to go deep into God? Counselors at the conference know the value of ‘going deep’ into the lives of their clients, helping them turn over the rocks and see what’s beneath the surface. Pastors knows a person can’t really be ‘a new creation in Christ’ if it only seems to happen on Sunday mornings in the pew.
Are many Christians resistive to ‘going deep?’ Are we afraid to find what lies below the surface in their hearts? Later in the conference, John Townsend said, ‘nature abhors the vacuum.’ What if we go deep and find something we hate? Heaven forbid, something anti-Christian? Maybe it’s better to leave the rocks alone and continue to sing our happy songs.
Happy songs – after all, we’re supposed to ‘be joyful in the Lord.’ What about the Lamentations we read in the Old Testament? What about Isaiah?
What about the cross? ‘For the joy before Him, [Jesus] endured the cross’ (Hebrews 12:2). But did He ever cry? The shortest verse in the Bible tells us He did (John 11:35).
This is the way most non-believers look at believers – painfully shallow. And when they accidentally tune in their radios to the Christian station they hear us singing our happy songs to God.
Joy is deep, and joy is very real in the life of a Christian – we hold the hope of the world in our hearts – the One who has transformed our own hearts and lives. The God who has gone with us through our tragedies and our triumphs inspires us to sing and write songs -- songs that reflect our deep joy, and our sorrows.
So let’s remove the façade by going deep into God. Let’s lift our hearts to Him in true worship and in the process, let Him change us.
Beautifully said! And really funny when I stop and consider. I am afraid to look deep or turn over rocks for fear that I might find something God would not like about me. Like He doesn't already know?? (Psalms 139 - O Lord, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.) So instead I get to go before God, just as I am, with the complete assurance that He already loves me, all of me. Ironically, it is in God's perfection that I have the grace to go deep because I am completely and wholly loved. Thanks God!
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