Christmas Day has past, and the Sunday routines have died down. I ended the day by watching "Bruce Almighty," a very thought provoking movie discuised as a typical Jim Carrey comedy. I went to sleep shortly after it ended, and I awoke about five hours later, thinking about the question, "What does it mean to truly serve God?"
I'm a Pentecostal by revelation and choice. I have dialogued recently with a devout Roman Catholic, but just couldn't get myself to view Church history, culture, and function the way that he does. If I could believe that the Christian movement started out the way he believes, I would be the first to go grab a rosary and get to doing it. I would walk away from my Pentecostal churchin' Gospel music lovin' lifestyle, and learn Latin.
I just can't picture Paul in a cassock, or Peter with scarlet or purple. I find it difficult to see 1st century Jews who believed that the messiah had come as incipient Roman Catholics. Perhaps it's a cultural thingfor me, or perhaps I can't fit what I read in the Book of Acts with what I read later on in the writings of the Latin church leaders.
The important thing is, I want to serve God, and I want to do it well. I don't feel this way because of fear, but because I am so grateful for all that the Lord Jesus Christ has done for me, and, through the Holy Spirit, is doing in me and will continue to do with me until the Day. I want to serve God because salvation is such a glorious gift, and I want to have a walk worthy of Him who called me. My problem is, with so many people saying that theirs is the way, how am I to know-I mean, really know, how to please God.
I welcome any ideas that anyone else has out there, regardless of your theological persuasion. I'd just like to hear/read what you think about this.
2 comments:
Interesting comments, gentlemen. What I wonder, though, is why both of you went institutional so quickly. Perhaps my comment about the disciples being incipient Catholics set it off. What I'm wondering is if there is a way one can find the will of God in a way that, as the old saying goes, "you know that you know that you know!"
That is what I want for the coming year, to have a firm confidence that I am in the will of God, not "hitting and missing," but dead-on the whole time. Whether it is running a ministry, supporting a ministry, sitting in a pew, whatever-but knowing that I am doing exactly what God wants....
I think it was actually more you that discussed this from a more institutional standpoint rather than a personal one. That's ok, it just surprised me.
I wonder are there more people who are searching to know God closer, or are there more people who are happy doing the "church routine," content with a Christian experience that is more passive, leaving it up to the leadership and "professionals" to do the more active work.
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