Is Jesus Enough
I am reading Philip Yancey's "Finding God in Unexpected Places" -- a thoroughly enriching book -- and I am taken with his article on "Whatever Happened to Deism". It is at the same time a defense of deism, a lament regarding its passing, and an expression of why it is not sufficient for a sustainable faith. It has also dove-tailed with other thoughts I've had regarding the sufficiency of Jesus in our life.
While any faith in the creator -- the watchmaker -- brings us to view our humanity and our human society with a sense of proper perspective and humility, if this is all that we have in our faith then there is nothing to bring ourselves back to our personal relevance and self-worth. This is what the Lord brings to us -- our sense of worth. The message of the Lord's grace is that we are essentially worthy. It is not that our deeds are worthy -- we know that cannot be true! It is that our being is meaningful, and we take solace in knowing that if the Lord deems us worthy then we act accordingly -- to the extent that our broken nature allows us. This sense of worth is what saves us; after that, we serve the Lord as an expression of thanks. Faith in the Lord becomes faith in ourselves. Once we have this, we have everything.
We often try to meet our unfaithful friends with the practicality of Jesus's teachings, in order to get them to understand why they too can accept the Lord. We first get them to not be hostile to Christ, then, we hope, before they know it they have allowed the Lord into their heart. Like Yancey, I wonder if this is effective. Perhaps it is, insofar as we sneak the Lord's grace into their self-awareness. But I wonder if it isn't better to simply focus on sharing the Lord's love and acceptance. What will it gain us to win this life? Isn't this the same question? Why do we focus on the practicality of Jesus's teaching in our outreach? And for that matter, why don't we approach grace as a practical matter?! This is the distictive feature of Christ's salvation. It is not so much that loving others or giving to the poor or living a life of moderation is important; it is that we are worthy of living this way!
"Luminous beings are we; not this crude matter." --Yoda
While any faith in the creator -- the watchmaker -- brings us to view our humanity and our human society with a sense of proper perspective and humility, if this is all that we have in our faith then there is nothing to bring ourselves back to our personal relevance and self-worth. This is what the Lord brings to us -- our sense of worth. The message of the Lord's grace is that we are essentially worthy. It is not that our deeds are worthy -- we know that cannot be true! It is that our being is meaningful, and we take solace in knowing that if the Lord deems us worthy then we act accordingly -- to the extent that our broken nature allows us. This sense of worth is what saves us; after that, we serve the Lord as an expression of thanks. Faith in the Lord becomes faith in ourselves. Once we have this, we have everything.
We often try to meet our unfaithful friends with the practicality of Jesus's teachings, in order to get them to understand why they too can accept the Lord. We first get them to not be hostile to Christ, then, we hope, before they know it they have allowed the Lord into their heart. Like Yancey, I wonder if this is effective. Perhaps it is, insofar as we sneak the Lord's grace into their self-awareness. But I wonder if it isn't better to simply focus on sharing the Lord's love and acceptance. What will it gain us to win this life? Isn't this the same question? Why do we focus on the practicality of Jesus's teaching in our outreach? And for that matter, why don't we approach grace as a practical matter?! This is the distictive feature of Christ's salvation. It is not so much that loving others or giving to the poor or living a life of moderation is important; it is that we are worthy of living this way!
"Luminous beings are we; not this crude matter." --Yoda
posted by ckg at 20:38
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