I really should be working on my Bible Study lesson for tomorrow evening, but sometimes when I get thoughts in my head, they are like distracting flies buzzing a picnic meal. When that occurs I have found that the best move is to write them down, then have freedom to refocus. Does that ever happen to you? Here are my “buzzing fly” thoughts for today. Not an Earth-shattering revelation, but here they are. I am 6 weeks into a 10 week course in learning Italian. Every Monday night I travel to the community college for a 3 hour session with 13 other students. Why I am doing so, and some minor observations about that, I can share later so as not to make this post longer than it will eventually be. But I was thinking today, that as much as I might learn the language, even if I stayed with it for years and somehow became an expert in speaking the language, in Italian verb declension and all the grammatical intricacies, I will never be “an Italian”. Nope, I will just become an American expert in the Italian language. I will always be American.I will always think in English and will have trained my brain to simply translate into Italian at lightning speed. Native Italians do not think in English, any more than you and I think in a foreign language. Knowing a language will help you relate to a person from another country, but it will not change who you are and make you one of them. Being Italian is more than just mastering the language; it is who you are culturally, in personality, in thought process and life paradigm. Misunderstanding people of other countries and cultures is more than not understanding a language; it is not understanding the people! I am thinking of various ramifications of my thoughts as applied to evangelism, marital adjustments, job relationships, etc. But for the sake of space and time, let me make two narrow applications in the realm of discipleship. 1) Becoming a Christian, something a person had never been, is unlike the inability to transform from American to Italian. Through the transforming power of Christ, one can truly become “Christian”, leaving the old person behind. That is what happens, that is what Scripture means when we become “new creations” in Christ. We don’t stay native pagans with a veneer of Christianity, we are “reborn” as children of God; newly minted natives of a different Kingdom with pure, virginal hearts and minds. Discipleship, then, is the ongoing challenge to “shed” the outer casing of the old person, maturing as the new people we are in Christ. And God promises that He will continue that work in us until the day of Christ Jesus! I cannot become Italian, but praise God, through Jesus, I was able to become Christian! And now, as a disciple, I continue developing as a native Kingdom of God resident. 2) Just as being able to speak the Italian language does not make one Italian, being able to “godspeak” does not make one a Christian. You can know a language, customs, habits, etc. of a country, but patriotism and dying allegiance erupts from the core of the country’s native children. And so it is with true discipleship. You may know your way around a church building, know the ins and outs of the Bible and its stories, know the the customs of your denomination, the words of the Lord’s prayer or be able to recite a creed, but are you a reborn native of the Kingdom of God? dead and made alive; a new creation in Christ? If you are, then let every thought be captive to the mind of Christ in you, every action a godly act of sanctified thinking, and be the child of God you were reborn to be. Impossible? Absolutely not. You were reborn for this purpose with the Spirit of God to empower you. Be God’s!
Posted on: Tue, 05 Nov 2013 19:55:41 +0000
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