Maybe it's my fault....
"Maybe it's my fault... maybe I led you to believe it was easy... when it wasn't... that failure gave me strength... that the pain was my motivation to press on...." hmmmm.... this was more than Michael Jordan talking to Lebron James in a cute commercial.... this has become my personal confession of the horror of my presentation of the Gospel... my presentation of the Americanized version of what our religious systems here in the U.S. call the gospel...
The commercial was fun to watch... as Jordan teased back at the silly James commercial where Lebron says: "What should I do.... just disappear?" Philip's presentation of the gospel that Jesus came to give you every selfish thing you ever wanted... that was not fun... it was an abomination.... a twisting of the truth... a deception... and is behind the reason why I closed last time with these words.
"One would think that of all people… the religious community… would think this way too… all their emphasis on how wonderful it will be in the great by and by… right? Then why do people who believe so strongly in eternal life… in life after death…. struggle with letting people go just as much as others who do not believe in those things…. hmmmmm…"
One of the deceptions of the American Gospel is.... that somehow the world is going to be impacted by my marvelous testimony of how God is on my side... be impacted by the miracles that happen when I stand in faith... when I believe enough... when I pray enough... when I fast enough....when I say it out loud enough... when I say it to enough people... never doubting....when I shout it from the rooftops... when I allow no negative thought to cross my mind...when I quote enough scripture at it... that somehow the particular mountain I want to move will finally be moved... and poor God will no longer be embarrassed because of my lack of enough faith .... the bigger the mountain... the greater the testimony.... the greater the impact... what a lie...
So I want to take back those words I use to say... it was my fault... I did lead you to believe it was easy.... when it isn't... that was a deception... I take it all back... the truth is that the way is hard... the gate is narrow... few there be that find it... it is the way of the cross... it brings me to Calvary where I die on that cross in Jesus... where I have no testimony... only His life... where nothing depends upon me... everything depends on Him... where I am nothing and He is everything... where I want only what He wants...
That's the un-americanized version... to sell everything I have... and go follow Him... all my great plans... all the miracles I want Him to do for me... they needed to go into the ground and die.... scripture is very clear that even if God raises me from the dead and I go back and tell the world... they won't believe me.... this is not a man thing... this is a God thing...
:)
The commercial was fun to watch... as Jordan teased back at the silly James commercial where Lebron says: "What should I do.... just disappear?" Philip's presentation of the gospel that Jesus came to give you every selfish thing you ever wanted... that was not fun... it was an abomination.... a twisting of the truth... a deception... and is behind the reason why I closed last time with these words.
"One would think that of all people… the religious community… would think this way too… all their emphasis on how wonderful it will be in the great by and by… right? Then why do people who believe so strongly in eternal life… in life after death…. struggle with letting people go just as much as others who do not believe in those things…. hmmmmm…"
One of the deceptions of the American Gospel is.... that somehow the world is going to be impacted by my marvelous testimony of how God is on my side... be impacted by the miracles that happen when I stand in faith... when I believe enough... when I pray enough... when I fast enough....when I say it out loud enough... when I say it to enough people... never doubting....when I shout it from the rooftops... when I allow no negative thought to cross my mind...when I quote enough scripture at it... that somehow the particular mountain I want to move will finally be moved... and poor God will no longer be embarrassed because of my lack of enough faith .... the bigger the mountain... the greater the testimony.... the greater the impact... what a lie...
So I want to take back those words I use to say... it was my fault... I did lead you to believe it was easy.... when it isn't... that was a deception... I take it all back... the truth is that the way is hard... the gate is narrow... few there be that find it... it is the way of the cross... it brings me to Calvary where I die on that cross in Jesus... where I have no testimony... only His life... where nothing depends upon me... everything depends on Him... where I am nothing and He is everything... where I want only what He wants...
That's the un-americanized version... to sell everything I have... and go follow Him... all my great plans... all the miracles I want Him to do for me... they needed to go into the ground and die.... scripture is very clear that even if God raises me from the dead and I go back and tell the world... they won't believe me.... this is not a man thing... this is a God thing...
:)
