Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Action Packed?


I often wonder if there is any way I could go back to the way things once were for me.  There was a time when I did not question anything and viewed this as my spiritual act of worship in many ways.  At the very least I was being a hard fighting soldier of the Lord.  This is not to mock being a soldier of the Lord as I believe I am still in the army and understand fully where my marching orders come from.  At times I begin to understand that ignorance (this is not used to say stupid) can be bliss.  Anyone who knew me as a new convert would easily testify that I was zealous for the mission.  In fact, this was my moniker amongst my brothers and sisters… “This is Alex; he’s super zealous for Jesus…” 

This was an identity for me and I thrived under its banner.  I did have a brother pull me aside once and tell me to just enjoy life as I am on the fast track to burning out… this was excellent advice as it came from the one person who should have never said this to me.  He was my campus minister at the time and I was the most baptizinest dude in his ministry.  His only gain in telling me this must have been from a sincere concern and I truly believe this started me down a road that I am still on to this day.  For all my fame an nicknames there was a moment of clarity for me after this conversation and I wanted so much more than just a taste of this clarity (best word I can think of to describe this moment) because it was good.

If you have ever watched an old Schwarzenegger action film as a young man you quickly come to the conclusion that you need to work out and the movie was AWESOME!  He is the top grossing actor of all time so stop snickering and pretending you never liked his stuff.  Later on however, the movie you once got the goose bumps from is revealed for what it is.  Explosions and one-liners that stay in your mind for weeks… “I’ll be back or He’s dead tired.”  Plot and character development matter very little in the grand scheme of things because you know if you can get through the acting there is an explosion and hack one-liner moments away.  As a mature adult you begin to wonder how has this man become so popular and how did he get elected to run California?

The simple answer has to be that action sells and popularity reigns.  Blow things up and put butts in the seats and we will believe you can do anything!  I began to wonder about my own popularity at this point and why were grown men asking me for advice?  Oh brother, I can preach the Word and when it comes to studying the Bible and converting folks there are few like me… these are the findings of a man at a crossroads.  I believe fully that you must say what you think out loud in order to realize the depth of insanity you are beginning to buy into.  This is not to say that I cannot preach I believe I am more than capable in this area and as for studying with someone there is nothing I enjoy more… but this is not my identity!  After a time you begin to see the “strings” so to speak and the great explosion is really a distraction (or at least it can be) to an inability to develop a viable plot with substance.

Why raise up only our campus ministry leaders and why the continual heavy push on that ministry?  They put butts in the seats and the big BOOM never gets old because they graduate and a new batch comes in after them.  What message does this send?  Somehow I was tricked into believing that the entire New Testament was simply about baptism and conversion and that is certainly there and that primarily in one book.  Why was the initial “planting” of the Christ church such a huge success?  It was an explosion of baptism and the newness could not be stopped and praise God for that… I am no hater!  The New Testament does not end with the book of Acts however… the BOOM got old and the rest of these letters are written to strengthen and encourage a group that needed more than the next explosion…

No comments:

Post a Comment