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REIMAGINING THE WAY YOU RELATE TO GOD
By SKYE JETHANI
Thomas Nelson
Copyright © 2011 Akash Jethani a/k/a Skye Jethani
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-59555-380-5
Contents
1 Life After Eden....................1
2 Life Under God....................23
3 Life Over God....................41
4 Life From God....................61
5 Life For God....................77
6 Life With God....................97
7 Life With Faith....................117
8 Life With Hope....................135
9 Life With Love....................157
Appendix A Communing With God....................175
Appendix B Discussing With Others....................187
Notes....................195
Acknowledgments....................205
About the Author....................207
Chapter One
Life After Eden
The Shadows
Fifteen hundred years ago, the emperor of Rome built a tomb for his beloved sister. The small building was designed in the shape of a cross with a vaulted ceiling covered with mosaics of swirling stars in an indigo sky. The focal point of the mosaic ceiling was a depiction of Jesus the Good Shepherd surrounded by sheep in an emerald paradise.
The mausoleum of Galla Placidia still stands in Ravenna, Italy, and has been called by scholars "the earliest and best preserved of all mosaic monuments" and one of the "most artistically perfect." But visitors who have admired its mosaics in travel books and on postcards will be disappointed when they enter the mausoleum. The structure has only tiny windows, and what light does enter is usually blocked by a mass of tourists. The "most artistically perfect" mosaic monument, the inspiring vision of the Good Shepherd in a starry paradise, is hidden behind a veil of darkness.
But the impatient who leave the chapel will miss a stunning unveiling. With no advance notice, spotlights near the ceiling are turned on when a tourist finally manages to drop a coin into the small metal box along the wall. The lights illuminate the iridescent tiles of the mosaic but only for a few seconds. One visitor described the experience: "The lights come on. For a brief moment, the briefest of moments—the eye doesn't have time to take it all in, the eye casts about—the dull, hot darkness overhead becomes a starry sky, a dark-blue cupola with huge, shimmering stars that seem startlingly close. 'Ahhhhh!' comes the sound from below, and then the light goes out, and again there's darkness, darker even than before."
The bright burst of illumination is repeated over and over again, divided by darkness of unpredictable length. Each time the lights come on, the visitors are given another glimpse of the world behind the shadows, and their eyes capture another element previously unseen—deer drinking from springs, garlands of fruit and leaves, Jesus gently reaching out to his sheep that look lovingly at their Shepherd. After seeing the mosaic, one visitor wrote: "I have never seen anything so sublime in my life! Makes you want to cry!"
Like the tourists in Ravenna, many come into Christian faith with great expectations. They have heard stories of jubilation and salvation, of the power to overcome this world and experience the divine in inexpressible ways. But once inside the ancient halls of Christianity many are disappointed. Where is the light, where is the illumination? Our hearts seek God and the goodness, beauty, justice, and peace we've been told he provides, but he often remains hidden behind the shadow cast by an evil world.
My concern is that we are inoculating an entire generation to the Christian faith. Many come with a holy desire to know God, to experience his presence in their lives, to be cared for like sheep entrusted to a meek and gentle shepherd. But this is not what they see or experience. In fact, they may leave the church without ever seeing a beautiful and enthralling vision of LIFE WITH God. The lights are never turned on to reveal the beauty that is present just behind the shadows. Instead they are offered a substitute form of Christianity, one that cannot break through the shadows and that never really satisfies the deepest longings of their souls.
When their experience of faith leaves them disappointed, they may falsely conclude that Christianity has failed. In reality, to quote G. K. Chesterton, "The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and left untried." Or perhaps it might be more accurately said of our time that Christianity has not been presented and therefore has been left untried. The result is a generation disaffected and inoculated to the true Christian message.
But there are moments, unexpected and undeserved, when a coin is dropped and our vision is transformed by a bright burst of light. It may only be a brief glimpse, but in those moments we see the world behind the shadows, we see an entirely different way of relating to God, and we long for more.
The Postures
Unfortunately a great many people have settled for a darker existence, one under a shadow in which they relate to God in a way that leaves them discontent. Consider the following examples of four people I encountered. All identified themselves as Christians, most had significant church backgrounds, but they each related to God in a different way.
* * *
I had not met Joel before he came to my office for what he called "spiritual advice." A middle-aged man with some success at business, Joel described himself as a Christian with a weakness for alcohol, women, and gambling—the latter being the reason for his visit. A bad run of bets was now jeopardizing his business.
"I'm sorry for your troubles, Joel," I said, "but I'm not sure why you've come to see me."
"I don't go to church," Joel said, "but I know what's right and wrong. I'm concerned that God isn't going to bless my business because of what I've done. I want to make things right with him. I can't afford to have my partners and God against me."
* * *
Mark was a very well-read man. He devoured every business leadership book he could find, but he wasn't a business leader. Mark was a pastor. We met at a ministry conference and shared lunch together.
"The problem with most pastors," Mark began, "is that they think they're immune to market forces. They don't understand the basic principles on which every organization rises or falls. They just don't teach that stuff in seminary.
"I can't stand all the spiritualizing that goes on at these ministry conferences. We're just coming up with excuses for being bad leaders—for not doing more. Do you think the managers of Walmart sit around and contemplate? Why do people expect us to sit around and pray all the time? I'm not going to let my church atrophy like so many others."
* * *
Rebecca was a senior at a respected Christian college. With graduation just months away, she was wrestling with what she would do next.
"I've always dreamed of going to medical school," she said. "And I've got the grades to probably get in, but I'm just not sure I should do it."
"Why not?" I asked. "What's holding you back?"
"I'm not sure that's what God wants me to do. I mean, does the world really need another cardiologist? I want my life to matter more than that. I want to do something really significant."
"Like what?"
"Like be a missionary," she said. "Maybe in order to serve him, God wants me to sacrifice my dream of becoming a doctor. I just don't want to reach the end and feel that I missed out on a more significant life."
* * *
"I don't understand what I did wrong," Karen said through her tears. "I tried my best to raise him according to the Bible."
Karen's teenage son was struggling with severe depression and coping in unhealthy ways. His drug use only exacerbated the problem and led to more destructive behaviors.
"It isn't supposed to happen this way," she said, with equal doses of anger and pain. "We have always honored God in our home. We have always done what's right. We raised our kids God's way—on biblical principles. There's even a verse from Proverbs framed and hanging in our house: Raise up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it. Why is God punishing us?"
* * *
Joel, Mark, Rebecca, and Karen represent the four ways most people relate to God. And like the tourists trapped in the dark and smelly confines of the Galla Placidia, most people are ultimately unsatisfied with these four approaches.
Life From God
Joel, the fast-living businessman, sought to use God to bless his business. He embodies the posture of LIFE FROM God. People in this category want God's blessings and gifts, but they are not particularly interested in God himself.
Life Over God
Mark, the savvy pastor with a focus on organizational principles rather than on prayer, didn't have much space in his life or ministry for God. This is the LIFE OVER God posture. The mystery and wonder of the world is lost as God is abandoned in favor of proven formulas and controllable outcomes.
Life For God
Rebecca, the graduating senior dreaming of medical school, was primarily concerned with how to best serve God. This most celebrated of religious postures is LIFE FOR God. The most significant life, it believes, is the one expended accomplishing great things in God's service.
Life Under God
Karen, the distraught mother who tried to raise her son "by the book," was upset when God did not uphold his end of the deal. The LIFE UNDER God posture sees God in simple cause-and-effect terms—we obey his commands and he blesses our lives, our families, our nation. Our primary role is to determine what he approves (or disapproves) and work vigilantly to remain within those boundaries.
Whenever I encounter new people, either in the church context or outside it, I'm usually trying to determine which posture best captures how they relate to God. A casual conversation about their life and faith and a few simple questions is usually enough to uncover their assumptions.
• Seatmate on a cross-country flight: "I really don't think
much about God." Analysis: LIFE OVER God. • Neighbor at the local farmer's market on Saturday
morning: "If we can just stop these liberal judges, God
will bless our country again." Analysis: LIFE UNDER God. • Visitor at the church: "Every morning I wake up and
pray for God to expand my territory. And he has!"
Analysis: LIFE FROM God.
• Pastor talking about his congregation: "They're just
lazy. What they need is some motivational preaching so
they'll share their faith with their neighbors." Analysis:
LIFE FOR God.
As Western culture becomes increasingly secular and "post-Christian," I find many more people unconcerned about God. They give little thought to how God's presence could or should influence their lives, and that's assuming they believe he exists at all. Many people in the secular West live over God.
But we must not exaggerate the secularization and post-God posture of the world today. Despite the rise of so-called "new atheism," there are still wars being fought because of religion in the twenty-first century, and traditional religious values dominate many communities even in Western societies. Adherence to faith rituals (or superstitions, depending on one's point of view) remains very popular today. Living under God's expectations is still important to many people. In fact, many of our cultural conflicts can be attributed to people living under God, seeking to impose their values on those who would rather live over him.
At the same time, a rapidly growing segment of people are seeking to use God for their personal benefit and profit. Some of the largest congregations in the United States and elsewhere are predicated on the LIFE FROM God posture, as are some of the best-selling Christian books. With so many traumas within families and now the turbulent economy, people are turning to God and his representatives for solutions. In many cases they don't actually desire God, just his supernatural help. Sometimes it is called consumer Christianity, the prosperity gospel, or health-and-wealth preaching. In each case people are looking to God as a cosmic therapist or divine butler. He's what one friend has called the WD-40/Duck Tape combo pack—all you need to fix just about anything.
What I find most among my peers in Christian ministry is a highly activist form of faith. Whether by fighting poverty, growing the church, or engaging politics, we tend to find purpose and meaning through what we do for God and his kingdom. The LIFE FOR God posture is highly celebrated and those capable of accomplishing the most receive great accolades and admiration.
Recognizing these four postures of life helps us makes sense of the church's work. Much of the church's activity is spent trying to move people from one of these four postures to another. For example, we try to convince a generally irreligious person living over God to care more about God's values and commands and to begin living under his rule. We don't push this simply to be dogmatic or intrusive, although at times that may be how it is received. Rather we believe that LIFE UNDER God is both more rewarding and blessed.
Some churches have made it their explicit mission to transform religious consumers into fully devoted followers of Christ. In other words they want people to stop simply living from God and start living for him. This shift is usually measured by a person's participation in church activities, charitable giving, service to others, and engagement in both local and international missions. We try to convince them to do less for themselves and more for God and others. A particularly successful shift from living from God to living for him occurs when a person leaves her chosen profession and enters "full-time Christian ministry." Such stories are infrequent but highly publicized in faith communities.
A brief reflection on my own journey of faith reveals seasons in which I have occupied each of the four postures. I have lived OVER, UNDER, FROM, and FOR God. And when I think about my years in Christian ministry, I must admit that my efforts were largely focused on transferring people from one posture to another with mixed results. Sermons were written and preached, programs designed and launched, groups prepared and assembled, budgets created and tracked—all with the goal of moving people over God to under him and convincing others to start living for God and not just from him.
The Students
A few years ago I began to seriously question the four popular postures of the religious life. I knew LIFE OVER God was ultimately unsatisfying, and I wrote an entire book about the fallacy of consumer Christianity and the emptiness of simply seeking a LIFE FROM God. But a more honest exploration of both LIFE UNDER and FOR God uncovered more disturbing things.
Continues...
Excerpted from with by SKYE JETHANI Copyright © 2011 by Akash Jethani a/k/a Skye Jethani. Excerpted by permission.
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