If you believe that God has not forgotten about our continent but instead has great revival plans for our people then check out this blog:
I think God is just waiting till enough people have given up hope for Africa so that HE can show the world what HE can do when all hope seems lost!
Have you ever considered that question?
Read this post and be challenged!
I have often been guilty of pointing the finger at churches within other cultures where bad cultural practices have been allowed to co-exist with the gospel.
I think its always easier to make a fuss about the speck in someone else’s eye!
But it has become more and more clear to me that there are some serious planks and even logs in the eyes of the “western” church.
By western I am referring to churches within what is generally know as western culture or more specifically the materialistic and humanistic culture of 1st World countries and countries, like South Africa, where the culture is heavily influenced by the developed world.
These serious issues are matters of faith – who or what do we place our trust in. It’s one thing to say that we trust God but it’s another thing altogether to really trust God by the way we live our daily lives.
There are a few areas where this problem is most evident in our western way of living. In this post I will simply outline the first of these areas: Provision – who brings home the bacon?
1. Provision
I believe that the single most pervasive form of idolatry in the western church is the lifestyle of serving the “gods of provision”. One might also calls this serving “Mammon” or money. But it goes beyond simply money itself.
It’s the notion which we live with and which we teach our children: that if you want to get ahead in life and make a success of life you need to use your talents and abilities to their full potential in the act of gathering provisions.
This sort of thinking goes directly against the Biblical teaching that we should use our talents and abilities to their full potential to glorify God who then supplies our need out of his abundance. God says that he is “Yahweh Jireh” – The God who provides. Everything we have and receive comes from him.
People think this sort of notion is only for those desiring full-time service in the pastorate or in the mission field. No wonder pastors struggle to get their congregations on board with a Kingdom vision becuase the pastor has had to deal with trusting God for provision but the majority of the people in the congregation still trust their training, their abilities, their gifts, their investments and their job for their provision.
We live in such a materialistic world that it is very hard for Christians to fully come to grips with the extent of this syncretism in their own lives. Sundays and after hours they will put time aside for God but Monday 8-6 they have to bring home the bacon. Saying it like that even sounds rational becuase we have been so brainwashed by our culture. I am not saying that people should sit on their behind and wait for manna to fall from heaven. Notice the difference: “I will spend my whole life and all my abilities and talents to glorify God in whatever he gives for me to do, at work, home, church, community etc. And God will provide my families needs”.
Its a simple difference in the words but a huge difference in the emphasis of faith. And to make that shift takes a huge step of faith in ones heart becuase if you say that then you open yourself to God for him to change your plans!
Unless the church takes this leap of faith, I fear we cannot go where God is leading us becuase we will be tied up in our allegiance to our “gods of provision”.
It is interesting to note that of the gods whom the Israelites served in their idolatry the Canaanite fertility gods where most prominent. According to Canaanite customs these gods promised to give fertility to you and your crops when you sacrificed to them. Seems like things haven’t changed much!
Your comments please!
As a kid I use to love going to my friends birthday parties, a day of fun and endless amounts of the sort of snacks you are usually only allowed in rationed portions, what could be better! These birthday parties always had one unwritten rule, you bring your friend a cool gift and then you get to partake of all the party pleasures. All parties where run on this unwritten, unspoken rule! This was the best part because your mom would go with you to the shops to buy a gift for your friend which you then gave to them as if it you bought it. And their mom would ask them what they wanted for their party and then go off and buy enough sweets, chocolates and chips to make 30 kids totally ADD for the entire day! And the beauty of it all was that you just got to enjoy it without any personal cost, aside from the possible stomach ach that would often follow. The birthday boy/girl would get all the presents they could want and all their friends got a sugar rush that would last them till the next birthday! And despite the fact that the parents had to pay for all of this, often in more ways than one, they had the joy of seeing their child have a great time!
God’s Kingdom is just like this.
God, our father, out of his abundance, grace and love gives his children amazing gifts of his Spirit which they are then able to give to each other. Gifts which they didn’t earn or pay for, gifts that where simply given to them, gifts that Jesus paid for with everything he had. And then God throws a party and he invites his children to come together and enjoy his presence and the blessing of his presence and each one has a gift that can bless another. As his children, we don’t pay for these gifts or for this party we just come and partake; we just get all the benefits of our Father’s love and provision. As we enjoy his presence and as we give to each other what he has given us and as we enjoy our fellowship with one another, our father who is with us, receives all the glory of his children enjoying what he has done for them.
I have been studying the book of 1 Samuel which I have found to be so helpful in understanding “Kingdom Living”. The second part of my post on Kingdom Parenting (part1), which is coming soon is also out of 1 Samuel.
But here is a very insightful post dealing with our obsession with earthly kings: give it a read
There are few things that get my blood pressure up quite as much as bad drivers, unjust political systems and people from older generations who heap all the blame for the current state of the youth in this country on the children themselves!
This especially gets to me when it comes from the mouths of parents who have obviously done a lousy job of raising their children. And sadly so many children of Christian parents are also going astray, why is that?
Recent Comments