I wanna be a tour guide
from Velvet Elvis:Repainting the Christian Faith by: Rob Bell
...something can be labeled (by society) "Christian" and not be true, something can be labeled true and not be labeled Christian. Paul quotes Cretan prophets and Greek poets. He is interested in whether or not what they said is true. Now to be able to quote these prophets and poets, Paul obviously had to read them. And study them. And analyze them. And I am sure he came across all kinds of things in their writings that he didn’t agree with. So he sifts and sorts and separates the light from the dark and then claims and quotes the parts of them that are true.
Truth is available to everyone. Even if they aren’t Christian. Sometimes we have the idea that if it’s not "Christian" it’s not true or that there is no truth outside the Bible. But the idea of a ‘limited truth’ puts us in a dilemma: truth we see in the world or the Christian faith. Or one may feel it’s a decision between intellectual honesty or Jesus.
But it doesn’t have to be this way because Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life." If you come across truth in any form, it isn’t outside your faith as a Christian. You faith just got bigger. To be a Christian is to claim truth wherever you find it. To live this way is to believe in a big Jesus.
In the Gospel of John, Jesus is called ‘the word’. The word Word here in Greek is the word logos, which is where we get the English word logic.
Logic, intelligence, design. The blueprint of creation.
My friend, Tom, loves math (which I have trouble relating to), but he tells me that the more he studies math, he is marveled by God. Math eludes to a creator, a design, an ingenious maker.
Paul gets this. He is a spiritual tour guide and is talking to his readers through their world, pointing out the true and the good wherever he sees it. Notice what he does in the book of Acts. He visits the city of Lystra, which hasn’t heard of Jesus or the God Paul believes in, and he tries to figure out how to explain his Christian world view to them. He tells them, "[God] has not left himself without testimony: He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons; he provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy."
Paul essentially asks his audience: Have you had enough food? Who do you think it comes from? Has it rained so your crops could grow? Who do you think did that? Have you ever laughed? Who do you think made that possible?
Missions is less about the transportation of God from one place to another and more about the identification of a God who is already there. It is almost as if being a good missionary means having really good eyesight. Or maybe it means teaching people to use their eyes to see things that have always been there; they just didn’t realize it. You see God where others don’t. And then you point him out.
Perhaps we ought to replace the word missionary with tour guide, because we can not show people something that we haven’t seen...the issue isn’t so much taking Jesus (cause carrying God seems really heavy, labourious, and difficult) to people who don’t have him, but going to a place and pointing out to the people there the creative, life-giving God who is already present in their midst. It is searching for the things they have already affirmed as real and beautiful and true and then telling them who you believe is the source of all that. "I am here to tell you where I think it comes from..."
Tour guides are people who see depth, texture, history and connection where others don’t. That is why the best teachers are masters of the obvious. They see the same thing that we do, but they are aware of so much more. And when they point it out, it changes the way we see everything.
~~~God give me amazing depth perception, an insightful gaze, and an open heart to receive all your beauty around me.
...something can be labeled (by society) "Christian" and not be true, something can be labeled true and not be labeled Christian. Paul quotes Cretan prophets and Greek poets. He is interested in whether or not what they said is true. Now to be able to quote these prophets and poets, Paul obviously had to read them. And study them. And analyze them. And I am sure he came across all kinds of things in their writings that he didn’t agree with. So he sifts and sorts and separates the light from the dark and then claims and quotes the parts of them that are true.
Truth is available to everyone. Even if they aren’t Christian. Sometimes we have the idea that if it’s not "Christian" it’s not true or that there is no truth outside the Bible. But the idea of a ‘limited truth’ puts us in a dilemma: truth we see in the world or the Christian faith. Or one may feel it’s a decision between intellectual honesty or Jesus.
But it doesn’t have to be this way because Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life." If you come across truth in any form, it isn’t outside your faith as a Christian. You faith just got bigger. To be a Christian is to claim truth wherever you find it. To live this way is to believe in a big Jesus.
In the Gospel of John, Jesus is called ‘the word’. The word Word here in Greek is the word logos, which is where we get the English word logic.
Logic, intelligence, design. The blueprint of creation.
My friend, Tom, loves math (which I have trouble relating to), but he tells me that the more he studies math, he is marveled by God. Math eludes to a creator, a design, an ingenious maker.
Paul gets this. He is a spiritual tour guide and is talking to his readers through their world, pointing out the true and the good wherever he sees it. Notice what he does in the book of Acts. He visits the city of Lystra, which hasn’t heard of Jesus or the God Paul believes in, and he tries to figure out how to explain his Christian world view to them. He tells them, "[God] has not left himself without testimony: He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons; he provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy."
Paul essentially asks his audience: Have you had enough food? Who do you think it comes from? Has it rained so your crops could grow? Who do you think did that? Have you ever laughed? Who do you think made that possible?
Missions is less about the transportation of God from one place to another and more about the identification of a God who is already there. It is almost as if being a good missionary means having really good eyesight. Or maybe it means teaching people to use their eyes to see things that have always been there; they just didn’t realize it. You see God where others don’t. And then you point him out.
Perhaps we ought to replace the word missionary with tour guide, because we can not show people something that we haven’t seen...the issue isn’t so much taking Jesus (cause carrying God seems really heavy, labourious, and difficult) to people who don’t have him, but going to a place and pointing out to the people there the creative, life-giving God who is already present in their midst. It is searching for the things they have already affirmed as real and beautiful and true and then telling them who you believe is the source of all that. "I am here to tell you where I think it comes from..."
Tour guides are people who see depth, texture, history and connection where others don’t. That is why the best teachers are masters of the obvious. They see the same thing that we do, but they are aware of so much more. And when they point it out, it changes the way we see everything.
~~~God give me amazing depth perception, an insightful gaze, and an open heart to receive all your beauty around me.
posted by chelsienoel @ 4:48 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home