Beautiful Personal Messes Are Not My Goal
Society 120. Not Honors. Whenever I try to explain that to fellow Geneva students, it doesn't work. It's a core course. Both the students and the professors make sure each other knows that.
"I just love how you guys make sure I know class is over," our one prof teased us.
Today we are talking about the recursive circle of society, and about Berger's externalization, objectivation, and internalization, specifically in how it relates to work. The room is a lot warmer than the single-digit wind chill outside, and the faces around me have leaden eyelids and gaping mouths half-yawning.
"How can we strive to work well?" our prof asks. "What makes work good?"
There's a pause. That guy in the back corner raises his hand. I do too. Shorter catechism answer uno numero is on the tip of my hot-chocolate scorched tongue. I don't get picked. To be fair, he moved first.
"Yes?" says the prof. Everyone swivels their heads as little as they need to in order to see the student.
"I'd say it's not even just for work, but it's about moments," he says. "You need to try to make every moment beautiful. Make every moment beautiful for yourself and for God."
It sounds like a quote right off of Pinterest. One of those foggy Instagram-filtered mountain scape photos with artsy font.
"Make every moment beautiful for yourself and for God."
I facepalm for the second time that day. The morning's face palm had been brought to me by discussing pietistic, individualistic views of the Kingdom of God, that time actually in agreement with my Bible professor.
"There's a lot of people who say, 'It's just me and my Bible,'" Dr. Shidemantle says. "But the truth is, it never is just me and my Bible. That's not what God intended. He intends for us to be a Body. Christianity is not an individualistic faith."
In a day and age where popular churches are praise band-centered mega organizations, where crowds of people gather together to worship each on their own individual terms, where the marshmallow fluff-theology of Ann Voskamp and Sarah Young sweep through and grab the attention of fellow young Christians, I often find myself frustrated. The goal for young Christians has become to reach some emotionally-driven, artistic, individualistic state of mind where you don't need to worry about your sinful nature because Jesus is your homeboy. It's borderline sensual.
"It's almost like an Eastern religion more than Christianity," one of my Bible classmates said. "It's like you're trying to reach some internal, personal emotional state as opposed to looking to be sanctified."
I see this all over my Facebook feed. "Don't care about what a disaster you are and how much you fail at everything. Jesus just wants to love you and be your bestie."
It's become a sweatpants and messy hair kind of Christianity. A careless faith. We're more concerned with the emotional moment than with the church body. We're more concerned with the state of our feelings than the state of our soul.
Yes, there is grace for sin. But grace isn't God wrapping you up in a ethereal, happy-feels fuzzy blanket and saying, "There, there. You're still a beautiful mess."
No, grace is a chance to repent, which involves completely turning away from our sin, not dismissing it. And we are not a beautiful mess. We are a depraved, revoltingly sinful race in desperate need of a savior.
And we have one.
He is not our homeboy.
He is not our bestie.
He is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. Thanks be to God who cleanses us from our wretched state.
We are called to win the race marked out for us. We are not called to whimper and expect a trophy for effort. We are called to be sanctified. Sanctification is never pretty, to quote my mom. It's God burning the dross from us.
Don't accept the dross. Let it burn.
To return to my society classmate, I'll give the same answer I planned on giving. No, our goal is not to make beautiful moments. Our goal is to glorify God and enjoy Him.
There are no beautiful moments outside of that.
1 John 1:8-9: "If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
"I just love how you guys make sure I know class is over," our one prof teased us.
Today we are talking about the recursive circle of society, and about Berger's externalization, objectivation, and internalization, specifically in how it relates to work. The room is a lot warmer than the single-digit wind chill outside, and the faces around me have leaden eyelids and gaping mouths half-yawning."How can we strive to work well?" our prof asks. "What makes work good?"
There's a pause. That guy in the back corner raises his hand. I do too. Shorter catechism answer uno numero is on the tip of my hot-chocolate scorched tongue. I don't get picked. To be fair, he moved first.
"Yes?" says the prof. Everyone swivels their heads as little as they need to in order to see the student.
"I'd say it's not even just for work, but it's about moments," he says. "You need to try to make every moment beautiful. Make every moment beautiful for yourself and for God."
It sounds like a quote right off of Pinterest. One of those foggy Instagram-filtered mountain scape photos with artsy font.
"Make every moment beautiful for yourself and for God."
I facepalm for the second time that day. The morning's face palm had been brought to me by discussing pietistic, individualistic views of the Kingdom of God, that time actually in agreement with my Bible professor.
"There's a lot of people who say, 'It's just me and my Bible,'" Dr. Shidemantle says. "But the truth is, it never is just me and my Bible. That's not what God intended. He intends for us to be a Body. Christianity is not an individualistic faith."
In a day and age where popular churches are praise band-centered mega organizations, where crowds of people gather together to worship each on their own individual terms, where the marshmallow fluff-theology of Ann Voskamp and Sarah Young sweep through and grab the attention of fellow young Christians, I often find myself frustrated. The goal for young Christians has become to reach some emotionally-driven, artistic, individualistic state of mind where you don't need to worry about your sinful nature because Jesus is your homeboy. It's borderline sensual.
"It's almost like an Eastern religion more than Christianity," one of my Bible classmates said. "It's like you're trying to reach some internal, personal emotional state as opposed to looking to be sanctified."
I see this all over my Facebook feed. "Don't care about what a disaster you are and how much you fail at everything. Jesus just wants to love you and be your bestie."
It's become a sweatpants and messy hair kind of Christianity. A careless faith. We're more concerned with the emotional moment than with the church body. We're more concerned with the state of our feelings than the state of our soul.
Yes, there is grace for sin. But grace isn't God wrapping you up in a ethereal, happy-feels fuzzy blanket and saying, "There, there. You're still a beautiful mess."
No, grace is a chance to repent, which involves completely turning away from our sin, not dismissing it. And we are not a beautiful mess. We are a depraved, revoltingly sinful race in desperate need of a savior.
And we have one.
He is not our homeboy.
He is not our bestie.
He is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. Thanks be to God who cleanses us from our wretched state.
We are called to win the race marked out for us. We are not called to whimper and expect a trophy for effort. We are called to be sanctified. Sanctification is never pretty, to quote my mom. It's God burning the dross from us.
Don't accept the dross. Let it burn.
To return to my society classmate, I'll give the same answer I planned on giving. No, our goal is not to make beautiful moments. Our goal is to glorify God and enjoy Him.
There are no beautiful moments outside of that.
1 John 1:8-9: "If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
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