Lately I’ve been moving through some deep, choppy waters on this blog. I explained why that’s the case in my post called Where’s the “B”? – but only in part. The other reason is that I feel pretty passionately that the Christianity presented today has more in common with fad diets than an actual Person worthy to be followed. We’re sold a neutered god and told that once we’re “saved,” it’s smooth sailing from now on.
Because Shulamite Ministries has an online bookstore, we receive all sorts of catalogs, magazines and advanced book copies from the Christian publishing world. Based on my regular perusal of these materials, it appears that Christian readers have gone crazy for Amish romance novels, multi-step formulas to a better life or marriage, and the 10,000 ways that men have single-handedly ruined everything that ever existed, ever.
I’m not surprised by this, and I don’t point it out to condemn it or judge it. Broken people aren’t happy – I sure wasn’t. Unhappy people look for an escape – I sure did. Escapes don’t last, so people get frustrated – I’ve been there. Frustrated people look for the easiest fix or a scapegoat – I excelled at both. This is a broken world full of broken people and this is just who we are apart from Christ. (Well, to tell the truth, I am somewhat baffled by the popularity of Amish romances. Seems rather odd.)
But this is churchianity, not Christianity. Churchianity is about a lifestyle, not a Person. Churchianity espouses a set of behaviors, not the Gospel. I am passionate about the daily reality of my relationship with Jesus Christ. I don’t want the false promise of formulaic how-to’s – I want to experience the truly miraculous, right here in my daily life. And I want to introduce other sick, hungry people to the God of miracles, not formulas.
“For many are called, but few are chosen” (Matt. 22:14). I have no intention of tilting at windmills and blasting away at the “many.” It is what it is, and if Jesus didn’t get all dramatic about it then I certainly shouldn’t. But I’ve met a God worth knowing. I found the Someone that actually matters. He’s not an illusion or a mascot or a figurehead. He’s real and present and LOVE.
I’ve been in the choppy waters because that’s a side of our Father that’s terribly misunderstood. I believed the lies about Him for so long, and now that I know the truth, I want to put it out there. I met the unfathomable love of Jehovah Makkeh, and He’s SO worth knowing and loving. Having a relationship with God is sometimes messy and never formulaic, and life is worth living when I live for Him, by Him and in Him.
