so i just finished reading searching for god knows what. don miller made an excellent point in this book that really hit home on something that i've been frustrated with for a long time now. the whole book is basically explaining that the gospel is relational. that word is one of many words on a long list of christian terms that try to explain jesus, or the bible, or the church, that i never really dive into because i've always just been annoyed when people think they've come up with a trendy new word to explain who jesus is. i'm not saying that i don't think people should investigate who jesus is, i'm saying that we keep coming up with these new buzz words all the time and it's like we're jotting them down on post-its and sticking them to the already inacurate picture we have of jesus in our heads and now he just looks like the cover of the Office Space DVD . We spend so much time looking at these words, some of which are quite lovely, yet we should just rip them all away and look at jesus. well anyway, i think that's kind of what don miller did in this book and i really appreciated it.
he basically says that it's not all about morality. he explains that the gospel of jesus is relational, in that any changes in behavior should only be in response to the changes in our lives that have resulted in our relationship with jesus. i agree with him. whenever we get close to anyone there are small (or not so small) shifts in our behavior, vocabulary, etc. that will eventually shift priorities and motives. and when it's jesus that we're getting closer to, these changes will probably be more intense (jesus is kind of intense).
i've gone through these roller coaster stages in my life, jumping between extreme, legalistic morality and whatever escapist activity was trendy (but safe) at the moment. usually this lifestyle fits me quite well because i never have to commit to anything. i've known for a while that the reason neither of these behaviors satisfy me in any way is because neither of them is in response to my relationship with god. being the rebel of the xians and the partier who's secretly on the straight and narrow is very satisfying to my non-committal tendencies.
so yeah. it's hard for me to commit to moral behavior because i decided to trust jesus, not people and morality comes from people. i think that's it.
Yes. And AMEN, and all that.
12 years ago
its like theres cultural religious waves every couple of decades and in this wave he knows were ready to figure out how to be relational. but because people are stupid we think we need to relate to god, when really he's just trying to relate to us? thats what i got out of the book. or not out of the book, but at the same time i was reading the book.
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