You See Bones, I See an Army (cont,)

Now we get to see Camels 6 and 7 of Floyd McClung's book.

Camel #6:  Frantic Pace of Life
Don't buy into the lie that the world determines how fast a pace of life you must live.  And don't let your kids buy into it either.

If there are no margins in your life, you will not have time to hear God.  Passion for Jesus and his purposes in life are chosen, then nurtured by those who refuse to let the world shape them in its mold.  You are free to say no.  If you don't the camel of frantic living will hunt you down, run you over, and then dance on your grave!

Camel #7:  Conventional churchianity
Erwin McManus [from his book The Barbarian Way] speaks the truth when he says God is not unwilling to stand against the very church he started:  "Two thousand years ago God started a revolt against the religion he started.  So don't every put it past God to cause a groundswell against churches and Christian institutions that bear His name.  If he was willing to turn Judaism upside down, don't think for a moment our institutions are safe from a divine revolt.  I am convinced that even now there are multitudes of followers of Jesus Christ who are sick and tired of the church playing games and playing down the call of God.  My travels only confirm that the murmurings of revolution are everywhere.  I am convinced that there is an uprising in the works and that no one less than God is behind it."

Many people are leaving institutional churches, not because they don't believe in church, but because they do believe in it.  They are not leaving because they have lost their faith; they are leaving so they won't lose their faith.  The church has become a hindrance to the spiritual growth of many people.  George Barna estimates that 53,000 people a week are leaving the church in America. 

Why have so many left the church?  They haven't!  You can never be any less church than you already are as a follower of Jesus.  What many people have discovered, and many institutional church leaders have yet to realize, is that church is who you are, not where you go.  Sadly, many people are so addicted to the programs of the church, they aren't able to enjoy the beauty of simple, organic church.  Institutional church has made them weak instead of strong.  They need others to do church for them.

God is a God of order, but that doesn't mean he won't move against the order of man and create some holy disorder to get people to experience church as he intended it. 

We measure greatness by how big an instituional church becomes, how many books an author has written or how moving a person is as a speaker.  But God measures greatness by how faithful we are to him.

Amen!  Camel #6 struck me in this piece.  The frantic pace of life.  I see it everywhere.  Texting, cell phones, video games, internet, just to name a few of the things that pull our focus away from God and others.  These, of course, aren't bad themselves, but when they occupy our thoughts and our actions beyond what is necessary, they can make us unhealthy in may ways.  But it is a choice.  Remember the good ol' days (think Walton's Mountain) when kids went to school, came home, had a snack, did homework, chores, ate dinner, and listened to the radio WITH THEIR FAMILY while mom and grandma knitted something to keep them warm at night?  Back then there weren't the high statistics of people dying from heart failure like there are today.  Ever think the stress of being pulled in too many directions has something to do with that, coupled with fast food consumption that helps encourage the fast-paced lifestyle? 

Let's start saying no to the unimportant, unnecessary wants in life, the wants that we want because everyone else seems to want them and think them important, and strip our lives of the things that give us short-term fulfilment and immediate gratification. If we took these things out of our budget, how many children could we sponsor in another country?  How much could we sent to Haiti?  How many first aid kits could we send to Africa to tend to AIDS victims?  I guess when we focus more on ourselves than on others, we spend our money on ourselves instead of on others.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.  Matthew 6:21.  

Have a blessed weekend.