Why are we so shallow? On Saturday the first eight pages of a newspaper were committed to a football team?! On Tuesday morning, the day after one of Australia’s most significant days, the ANZAC day coverage began on page 4? Now, I love my footy as much as anyone but a reality check please. I visited Disneyland once and it was a lot of fun; but I don’t want to live there.
At WikiChurch last Sunday we began to bounce around the matter of values and just what kind of values do we live by today; if indeed we live by any at all. Christianity for many people today has been condensed down to a set of values or a moral code. We send / bring our kids to church so that they can learn some ‘Christian’ values. Can somebody tell me just what the heck these things are because if asked I have no answer.
I was asked the other night what I saw as being Christian values to live by and was happy to skip right past the Ten Commandments and just give the two that have transformed and shaped my life.
The first is in Genesis where we find the awesome concept that mankind is created in the image of God: ‘Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness’. The great poet/shepherd/king, David, once pondered: what are human beings that you mindful of them, mortals that you care for them.’ Despite all of the cruelty and brokenness that we reap among the world and each other, yet there is some noble grandeur within that seeks to climb higher? Why is that? Could it be that Genesis is not just some ancient myth but is indeed grounded in the truth that there really is a ‘god shaped hole’ in every one of us? My first value – imago Dei – image of God.
When our youngest used to head out to a party or some other entertainment I would say to her, ‘Remember who you are.’ I like to think I hear the voice of God speak to me on occasions quietly encouraging me to remember who I am.
My second value is in the gospel of John where we read: ‘And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.’ The Christian faith claims that the voice that spoke the world into being – the Word – at a moment in history broke into life itself. Within this human baby was contained the completeness of God and man. Thousands of years had passed before his time and thousands have passed since his being, and yet in those 33 years we caught a glimpse of God’s creative act and desire. In his life, suffering, death, resurrection and ascension Jesus opened up a little glimpse of glory through our man made curtains. My second value – God so loved the world that he gave his only Son ..
Do I accept and believe this simply because the Bible says so? No! I saw and experienced it long before I discovered its truth in Scripture. I found out about the image of God as people I knew to be followers of Jesus valued me more highly than I valued me! They were looking through different lenses. I discovered the love of God as men and women of Christ seduced me into the kingdom of God. I had been seduced all of my life but at last I had found what I was looking for (my apologies to U2).
The previous paragraph is not a history lesson because I still see and experience this reality and these values just about every day. My faith is a living faith not a story book faith – it’s alive. It is not written on stone tablets full of thou shalt and thou shalt nots. I know what a man named Jeremiah meant when he wrote under the power of God: ‘I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.’
Why are we so shallow? Perhaps we are not shallow at all? Have we just shaped a life and even a faith that is created in our own image? Maybe that is enough for us.
Elisha prayed: “O Lord, please open his eyes that he may see.” 2 Kings 6:17
Cheers - John
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