Off the deep end

On Thursday nights I try to occasionally stop in and visit our church's high school ministry. Sure, I suppose you could maintain it's part of my job description to check in now and then-- but for me I love to check in with students and I have some great friends there having served in the ministry myself for five years.

One of the neat developments for me is that my eldest son Aden, now five-years-old, has reached an age that he can be a buddie and go on these visitations and errands with me. So recently the two of us found ourselves at a typical night of J-Walk (by typical I mean a fun game, awesome worship, compelling message, tasty grub, and good friends, of course). Aden was captivated by the game, probably wondering why the "big kids" were running like lunatics, screaming and cheering, and desiring to play himself. Being one of those responsible-type parents, I steered him away from the potential of being trampled by scrambling teenagers twice his height and four-to-five times his weight. Call me paranoid, I know, but giants and munchkins don't usually mix.

As the night moved into worship, I assumed this would be a rather innocuous part of the evening for the sensibilities of a five-year-old, not to mention that I love and totally get blessed by J-Walk's worship. The second song is called "You are My Joy" by the David Crowder Band (here's a sample if you haven't heard it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7rqqmgf5L8), which is an incredible song. Now, the song is about being passionately in love with God and the joy of living a life in submission to God's will. However, the lyrics are a little dramatic when one ponders what they are saying spiritually and metaphorically:

"And You set me on fire,
I am burning alive,
with His breath in my lungs,
I am coming undone."

Unfortunately, the five-year-old mind is 100% literal. So, when this song is being sung, Aden turns to me, very distressed and troubled, asking "Why is he setting him on fire???"

Theologically speaking, Aden stepped off into the deep end. So, I tried my best to explain what the song was talking about, that it wasn't really "fire" that would burn you. I suppose my explaination was sufficient or else I would have been bombarded continually for the rest of the evening about why people would set someone on fire at church; thankfully, he didn't bring it up again. Score one for Dad, I guess.

But that had me thinking about how often we seem to think we have God all figured out, that we've put Him in a box and put that box on a shelf. And the God-part of our life is just where we want it: comfortable for us. Unfortunately, that sets Christians up for two distinct dangers: compromise and stagnation.

See, when God becomes just "something we do"-- where we show up semi-regularly to youth group or church, talk to some christian "friends," and that's about it-- we have really displaced Him from the throne of our hearts. Therefore, compromise becomes easy. We start thinking things like "It's not really THAT bad-- a lot of people do a lot worse" or "I just want to have some 'fun'-- what's so wrong about that?" And "all of a sudden" we find ourselves being the christian we never wanted to be: someone who plays the game but doesn't really follow Christ at all. Sure, we can show up and sing the songs-- but it's just a place to go and a song to sing.

Perhaps just as bad is the Christian who thinks he or she has God figured out enough that it's now all about cruise control. You go through the Christian motions with none of the passion. Instead of being "set of fire" and "burning alive"-- you're more like cold embers. Unfortunately, those of us in this state are simply the right temptation away from compromising as well.

But what about those who think that they have it all figured out that there is no God-- that everything we learn in school and see on secular TV fed to us by those that have no interest in presenting a perspective with God in it at all is the truth? Yes, a Christian who thinks he has all the right answers and knows God in every way comes across as arrogant-- but what about someone who believes they know enough about how the universe works, how everything came into existance, and why people act like they do that God can be ruled out of the equation completely? What word would one use to describe this perspective?

So my prayer and encouragement for each of us is that we head over to the deep end, that God isn't in a box or on a shelf, at our will and leisure-- but that we are at His. That our desire is to be set on fire, that we are burning alive with the breath of God in our lungs. God tells us that those who seek Him will find Him. How long do we want to splash around in the shallows? Race you to the deep end.