December 19, 2013
Superheroes
‘Tis the season for watching Christmas plays.
Yesterday I attended a third grade student performance that had five
superheroes interacting with those involved in the birth of Christ. The heroes
- Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, the Hulk, and Spiderman- had heard a rumor
that a new Superhero was arriving on the scene and that He would save the
world. The heroes were a little miffed because, after all, it was their job to save the world. They wanted
nothing to do with a new Hero if He intended to replace them by eliminating
their jobs. I’m wondering if there might not be a little bit of superhero
complex in all of us. We get so caught up in saving the lost that we forget that
our real job is to worship the King.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Gail;
-----You know you’re right. We approach most of our lives heuristically. And that’s not exactly like heroically. We say, “We save the lost,” and we think with the expression. But when we pluck the idea apart, we know we don’t save the lost. The Lord saves the lost. Basically, all we do with the lost is the same as what we basically do with everyone: inform and support. To inform is to give ideas and concepts and such. Yah, to preach, too. To support is to help, like maybe giving a job, or doing business with, or even donating goods, supplies, food, and such. Kind of a mix of the two is to entertain. Neither saves. Nor do both combined save. But they are part of the causes which effect a thought process of light in a lost person, who then sees a path to the Lord and goes there, and salvation might be the full effect (according to the lost person‘s response to what catches him.) Then we wrap the whole idea up in the label of the full effect, totally not meaning that we’ve done the saving, but not fully appreciating that we’ve merely been a part of its causes. Thinking with that expression “we save the lost” is one of many different types of heuristics. It’s easier to think than is that whole paragraph.
-----If we want to think something true both upon its heuristic surface and within its analyzable depths, then think, “Our worship of the King causes much salvation.” it sounds as audacious as “…we save…” But causes are like links in chains of causes and effects. And those cause and effect chains are less like the single strand of links between a tow-truck and my broken-down car. They are more like the chain-mail protecting a knight. A cause produces many direct effects. An effect is produced by many direct causes. And even more are the indirect relationships. So, how big is worship?
-----We don’t do it at church. If by doing it at church you mean doing it exclusively there. We do it in our hearts and minds. First we think about the Lord. Or read His Word. Or feel about Him. OK, neat. That’s volitional. And volition is good; it’s the acting of your will. But that’s only occasional. What? We’re going to only occasionally worship such an awesome power and presence as the Almighty God? Well, there’s a whole lot more going on deeper than the volitional part of my thinking or its influence upon my feeling. Merriam-Webster says worship is, “to honor or reverence as a divine being or supernatural power,” or “to regard with great or extravagant respect, honor, or devotion.” That kind of sniffs its substance. From Genesis to Revelation, God’s Word colors worship as making your life out of what you know about something. It is to shape yourself by your understanding of it, that is, it is to build all of your thinking and feeling according to what it is you worship. You can’t do that without incorporating the reality of what you worship into what you perceive as reality. I assure you, everything you think and do is effected when you worship the Father through Christ who is the truth. Continuing to be so effected, you can’t open your mouth or make a motion that is not in some way an effect of the gospel, which makes in some way a cause of it’s spread. And it is that sifting, creeping spread which the Holy Spirit takes advantage of to lure the poor, unsuspecting, yet chosen lost into the Lord’s net of salvation.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
Post a Comment