In the first century AD a great threat to the church existed called the Imperial cult. The ideals of this cult are what fueled much of the persecution of the early church. It was essentially worshiping emperors as gods. In return for this worship, the emperor would give communities and cities special favor. Imperial worship included festivals, burning of incense, offering sacrifices, and giving gifts. It was the idolatry of a mortal. The church refused to follow the practices of the cult because they saw the spiritual significance of elevating humans to such a level as if they were gods. Its tempting to say we dont struggle with that today. But is that true? Its not by chance that our super celebrities are called idols. Our sacrifices to them are monetary, buying a movie ticket just because they star in the movie. Even if the movie itself is less than holistic or even good. But we sacrifice more than that. These celebrities are idolized and modeled after. Just as the early church was ridiculed and hurt for not following the trend of their day, we find ourselves at great social risk when we refuse to follow the trends of our day. Wear the wrong thing, have your hair cut the wrong way, or use the wrong beauty products and youre apt to be coerced or ridiculed. But at least that stuff isnt in the church right? Its not like we have celebrity pastors and evangelists. No, we dont have trends in the church that idolize the people that are serving the God we are called to worship. We dont trick ourselves into believing that certain people have special access to God that we could never attain.Thats not what the church does. We abstain from such nonsense, dont we? If youve read this far, thank you. I want to end with a word of encouragement. The church is called the body of Christ. Bodies dont work despite differences in their parts, but because of them. If youre different that means you can serve a purpose that no one else can serve, but if you are afraid to show it, then youre robbing your brothers and sisters of your talents. And if any Christian ever made you feel less than because you were different then I pray that God corrects them. It is never okay to make our brothers and sisters feel left out because their gifts, talents, abilities, or journey is different than ours. Dont love each other despite quirks and differences and boldness and shyness and slowness and quickness. These are not things to love in spite of, but because of. Our differences make us work. A car engine built completely of corroborators wont run no matter how much gas you put in the tank. No matter how present God is in your congregation he cant use you as a body if all the members are the same. Much love to all. I pray this word brings boldness to be the person God made each of you to be. Be yourself because the world needs you.
Posted on: Wed, 03 Dec 2014 01:25:54 +0000
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