#rejecting god

[momentsbeforemass]

Coffee

I have a friend who is very particular. He wants things just so. If something doesn’t meet his standards, he will complain about it. Endlessly.

He has yet to have a decent cup of coffee.

I learned this going to all of the big-name coffee places with him. Then, when none of those measured up, going to all of the most micro-batch, one-off, exclusive coffee roasters you could think of.

It was an amazing tour of the coffee of Chicago. And it was that tour, accompanied by his endless soundtrack of complaints, that showed me what was wrong with the coffee.

Him. He was what was wrong with the coffee.

It wasn’t that he had exquisite taste. It was that he was exquisitely skilled at finding fault.

Because he was busy finding fault, he missed out on some of the best coffee I’ve ever had.

I know this, because I went back to some of those places without him. When I didn’t have someone telling me how awful they were, it turns out they were great.

It easy to laugh at someone who does this to themselves. Piling up preconceived notions and finding fault, until they keep themselves from enjoying…pretty much anything.

But it’s not just the dynamic that we see playing out in today’s Gospel, with its violent rejection of Jesus.

It’s a trap that all too many of us fall into with our relationship with God.

We miss out on God’s best for our lives, because it doesn’t meet our preconceived notions. We keep ourselves from being able to enjoy all that God has given us, because we’re too busy finding fault.

It’s not that God isn’t pouring out His grace upon us. It’s that we are so wrapped up in our ideas about God, about how things have to be, that we aren’t able to receive what God is giving.

When we get stuck like that, it’s easy to blame God.

Even though we’re what’s wrong with the coffee.

When we get stuck like that, the only cure is God’s grace. To ask God to take away our love of fault-finding.

To ask God to give us a desire for Him, not our ideas about Him.

Today’s Readings

[quotesfromscripture]

Then he said, "I have been very zealous for the LORD, the God of armies; for the sons of Israel have abandoned Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. And I alone am left; and they have sought to take my life."

1 Kings 19:14 NASB (2020)

[sundaynightservice]

The Wrong Side of Eternity

Outside of heaven

more than regrets, just deserts,

the loss of all hope,

the enveloping darkness

one of the terrible pains.

.

D W Eldred

[mybeautifulchristianjourney]

Renewing Your Mind | If There Is a God, Why Are There Atheists? | Mar 12, 2019

Many atheists say that Christians believe in God only because of some psychological need—in other words, because they want to believe in Him. From his Classic Collection, R.C. Sproul turns the tables on this argument and exposes atheists’ vested interest in rejecting God.

[dbaydenny]

Lying in sorrow, rejecting God and His word, embers going out. D W Eldred

[momentsbeforemass]

Someone else’s miracle

I saw God at Walmart last week.

A mom was getting shoes for her two little boys. They looked to be about 4 and 7 years old.

She had found a pair of shoes that fit the older one. And he really liked them.

The younger one really liked them too. And that was the problem.

Because the 4-year-old didn’t just want the same shoes that she found for his big brother. He wanted the same shoes – in the same size as his big brother.

She was trying to get him to try on the shoes, but in a size that would fit him. And he was having none of it.

The more she tried, the more upset he became. Because she wouldn’t give him the same thing that she got for his brother.

He didn’t understand that she was trying to get him shoes that would work for him. Instead of the comically huge ones that he was demanding.

It gave me a glimpse of how you and I must look from God’s perspective.

When we see something that God did for someone else – someone else’s healing, someone else’s healthy relationship, someone else’s promotion, someone else’s successful struggle with addiction, someone else’s growing business.

And get bent out of shape because God didn’t do the exact same thing for us. Because He didn’t give us someone else’s miracle.

We all do it, just like the people in today’s Gospel. We pray for something, we ask God for it, we believe for it. And then get upset when God doesn’t do it for us the same way that He did it for someone else.

Whether our reaction takes the form of doubting ourselves, wondering whether we prayed and believed hard enough for it. Or if it takes the form of doubting God. Maybe even rejecting God because we didn’t get someone else’s miracle (or trying to kill Jesus like in today’s Gospel). It really doesn’t matter.

Because all of them leave us in the same place as the 4-year-old who was angry with his mom for not getting him the shoes he was demanding.

His anger makes perfect sense. But only to his self-absorbed 4-year-old brain.

All because he can’t see the big picture. Because he can’t see beyond himself enough to trust that his mother loves him and wants the best for him.

The challenge for you and me when it comes to our relationship with God?

To see if we can do better than a self-absorbed 4-year-old.

Today’s Readings

[momentsbeforemass]

Go away

Have you ever wanted to push someone away?

To spend as little time interacting with them as possible? To make sure that they don’t want to be around you? And to make sure that it’s their idea – so you can blame them for it?

Here’s how.

Constantly second guess their decisions. All of their decisions, from their most important life choices to what to have for lunch. No matter what it is, make sure that they know that they could have done better.

Let them know that their ideas and beliefs are wrong. Both in general and specifically, especially about anything that is truly meaningful or important to them.

Make sure they feel stupid for even thinking that. Don’t bother explaining why they’re wrong. Unless you can make them feel bad by doing it.

And – every step of the way – make sure they know that (unlike them) you’ve got it all figured out. That you’re right.

Start doing this, and you’ll see results almost immediately. If done consistently, the effects will be permanent.

Can you tell I’ve been spending too much time online lately?

I can’t tell you how many supposedly Christian sites and commenters are doing exactly this. Using this approach to interact with other people.

Saying all manner of angry, hateful, and/or fearful things. And then trying to dress it up with some “Jesus talk.” Maybe a slogan or a Bible verse out of context. Following this approach every step of the way.

If this is our approach, it kind of doesn’t matter what we’re talking about. What great and good cause we think we’re defending.

Because if this is how we’re doing it, if this is the “Jesus” that we’re showing people? Then we’re not showing people Jesus at all.

We’re showing people us. We’re showing them how small and weak and fearful we are.

And we become the reason they turn away from Jesus.

If we want people to go away, this works. Every time.

If not, here’s something else we could try.

“We do not draw people to Christ by loudly discrediting what they believe, by telling them how wrong they are and how right we are, but by showing them a light that is so lovely that they want with all their hearts to know the source of it.” - Madeline L’Engle

Today’s Readings

[quotesfromscripture]

“But Israel has rejected what is morally good;  so an enemy will pursue him.  They enthroned kings without my consent!  They appointed princes without my approval!  They made idols out of their silver and gold,  but they will be destroyed!” 

- Hosea 8:3-4 NET (2014)