Odd Ideas

Originally posted May 21st, 2008

Went to church for many years. Did all of the “Christian” stuff. Heard all about how, if we followed Jesus, God would take care of us. I believed it. Still do believe it.

Problem is, our perception of “how” God will take care of us is so… human.

Church says if we follow Jesus, we will be more prosperous, God will help us with financial problems, our families will be stronger, etc…

Jesus simply said “follow me”. He said our way would be difficult.

Anyway, a few years ago, we decided to just follow Jesus, no matter what, no matter where. Some of our friends and family thought we were nuts – and they are Christians.

As Shane Claiborne says in his book, life seems to be a lot better for a lot of people BEFORE they start seriously following Jesus. Once you jump over the edge, and actually live like Jesus told us to (and not just go to church on Sundays), your life gets really messed up.

Living as a “good Christian”, by church rules, might lead to a comfortable life. Actually following Jesus usually leads us away from comfort.

We have spent the last three years in a foreign country, trying to live out what Jesus showed us to orphans and hurting people, and we have ended up in a much more difficult situation financially than we were before. Still, we know God will take care of us – but probably not the way we would like!

Why is it that it seems like we have managed to get so many things backwards about Jesus and his teachings in Christianity?

Our first Sunday back at our church here in Canada, a friend was talking to me about our experiences. I guess my feelings aren’t very well concealed, as he asked me if I had become cynical toward church. I had to admit that yes, I had become cynical. Is that a bad thing?

Seem to me that Jesus was pretty cynical of the religious authorities of his day as well.

When are we going to stop getting Jesus backwards?