I just spent two wonderful weeks in Europe. My first destination was Riga, Latvia. Then I spent six days in the beautiful historical city of Prague. It was an amazing time for me in these two nations. There were a lot of thoughts that i had. So i will try and communicate some of them in this blog...and I hope that you will read it to the end.
While I was in Latvia I realized a lot of things about myself that were so refreshing, encouraging and inspiring. I realized why when I was growing up, all the way until very recently, my dream was to be in the ministry. I have often asked myself how is it that I could have had that desire. Going back made those desires seem so real again. Being in the ministry over there is so different than it is here in Nashville. Yes there are some amazing people here that are in the ministry and there are so many great leaders of our religion in this city. Yet the longer I have lived here the more that desire has faded. When I went there and saw how being in the ministry is really about two things. Two things that our entire life should be about anyways: loving god and loving people. There was such a refreshing sense of trying to help people find God. Such a sense of trying to help people walk through life as a shepherd to their soul and their spiritual, physical, emotional, and relational well-being. I even found myself feeling the rumblings within my own soul to do ministry again.
Another thing that I realized as I was there was how much we (myself, friends, and community) have lost the dream of reaching people for Jesus. We are all dreamers. Dreaming huge dreams to make the world a better place. But for some reason we have become humanistic in our desires to better mankind. We want to help people and give people a voice. However, we have taken Jesus out of the picture. We seek to share god's love without ever mentioning god. We seek to better mankind without ever mentioning its only true help. I dont know why we have become like this. We try not to "over-spiritualize" things. We try and create art that is relevant and creative but shy away from, no even mock those who use the name of Jesus and His gospel. That was something that was honestly very convicting to me while I was there. People there burn, weep, crave for the salvation of peoples souls. They live to see one more life come to Jesus. There is no shame of His name, no shame of his message, and no shame of being bold enough to say that He and He alone is what I can offer you. I realized within my own heart how much I had become deliberate about doing things that were humanitarian, and effective but that eliminated Jesus. Of course you know that I very much want to be creative in how I share the gospel, create art, and live life. But someone said to me there, "I want to be radical for him. I want to be able to get to the place where I can be like Paul in saying, let me be damned if it would mean saving Israel." I thought wow...give me a heart again to see people come to Jesus. Not just better their outward live, but to preach the gospel to those who need Him. And let me run to you...yes be radical for you. I saw that when christians are friends there, they dont just hang out, have a good laugh and go home. Their spiritual lives are intertwined. They are striving together. Fighting for each other. But what made it so inspiring is that it is so not about them. It is about the dream. The dream of finding god. And the dream of reaching a world for Jesus. We WERE once like this...
One other thing that I realized while I was there is how beautiful it is to love one's country. I came to firmly believe the more I was in Europe how each person from their own country should protect their culture, land, and people. There are a lot of things that are happening in Europe that are detrimental because as a continent they have tried to implement a philosophy of open borders. There is something beautiful and extremely necessary about protecting your nation from those things that you do not want there. I talked to some people from Spain while I was in Prague, and they told me how much they were tired of people coming to their nation and living there and losing Spanish culture. I heard these same words from a Latvian man in Riga. Yes we should be open to other cultures, and visit the world. We can learn from many cultures. But there is a line that we must draw in the sand and say that this is our property. Just like we have our own houses and we dont just let anyone come into our homes or we dont all just share one big community house. And we must be patriotic of being who we are. IT is a beautiful thing to love one's country, and love one's countrymen.
So those are some of my thoughts....so many more...maybe i can write more sometime
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6 comments:
Phenomenal thoughts David, thank you for sharing them. I must say you bring up some great points re: taking Jesus out of the picture of our attempt to "share God's love". I also like your statement about loving one's country/culture, being open to others, yet not allowing yours to be done away with. I heartily agree.
I am so glad you posted this. After our conversation last night I haven't stopped thinking about it. "Their spiritual lives are intertwined. They are striving together. Fighting for each other." This part made me tear up. You are so right. I remember the moments when I would be talking to my friends there and they would literally look into my eyes and tell me "you are not alone in fighting this, you can't give up" "The Battlefield" blog that I wrote a while ago is exactly about this. It is about understanding there is somebody else fighting for the same thing as you. And while I am fighting for the oppressed here there was a different fight. It was not in the name of the rights of a human being (which is good and highly needed) it was for survival, it was for God. It was an invisible bond among those who stand together for Jesus, those who are first generation Christians, those who go home and stand up for God and glorify Him when their family curses them for that. And when it happens you call your friend and you ask for prayer, you cry to him and you both cry out to God because you know this is THE ONLY way you can make it. I've lost it myself. There are so many negatives and so many problems in my home country but out of that something amazing comes out.
Thanks, David. Your words are very convicting, and I agree with them completely. I really do long to regain that which I've lost, and to live that vibrant life in the Spirit with close friends by my side. How do we do this? I have a sense that it needs to be deliberate. It doesn't happen by chance.
Great thoughts, Dave. I feel much like that everytime I come back from home.
Lots to talk and think about but I think there is an obvious correlation between relating to God, one another and those we would like to see relate to God, manifested in our behavior. Mainly, if we talk about humanistic behavior when it comes to the matters of God and people, I will fist have to be aware of my selfishness. Places and areas in my life that have hindered the passion for my first love, which reflects all other "loving action" and human interaction.
- Am I tenacious enough with God? Will I call out to know Him more and be used more and then willing to live with the consequences of my prayer?
- Am I the first to put myself, my time and resources out there? In light of what we know: it's easier to love a friend than a stranger. But what happens when we've lost fully loving (standing with, fighting for, growing with) our friends?
Yes, we need to be deliberate. Deliberate to die to ourself, which is in stark contrast to our season: transitions and evolving into a new season of life, career, etc. There needs to be balance but in all this, I still need to come back to picking up MY cross so I can follow Him.
What do I see in my mind? That is the question I pose to myself when I analyze the scope of my Christian experience. What does God "look" like? When we lose the universal-ness of God: the belief that he is everywhere and active in every area of our lives, both public and private, we position ourselves to forgot where the center is.
Plato taught, and much of contemporary theology believes this, that the physical world is bad, and the spiritual world is good. Subsequently, I reject the physical through various practices in an attempt to escape earth to get to heaven. Unfortunately, if we live for something to come, we care little about something now. Jesus cared about now, and then.
It is here that I have recently found myself: loving God here and now and loving what God is going to do then. When we see that God is active in every area of life now, we infuse ourselves with Gods heart and we begin to look at people as a sort of "global family". If all came from God,which the our worldview holds, then when people are downtrodden, alone, persecuted, etc., we are able to recognize that though we are not in that situation now, we are affected by it because something of God is calling everyone to know him and when one person is effected we are all affected.
This could sound unviersalistic etc., yet when you study the scope of scripture and what God through Torah and Jesus himself have been attempting to acheive in desiring all to know Him, He prophetically speaks of a global family enamored and worshipping Him. This dynamic of God is amazing and truly seperates itself from every other religion in the world.
Thank you for this post. It resonants deeply with me and reminds me of so many great things God has done that I have forgotten.
Hey there. I found you on Layne's blog and noticed that you wrote about Europe. I've been living in Budapest for 2 years now and have seen the changes come with the Schengen Agreement. ONe thing we have found is that they won't survive without learning English, the common language that ties everyone together but yes. People should also try and preserve culture.
I have become grateful for being an American and looking towards the day I return to help make a difference there now. It's funny how life goes.
I'm happy for you in this journey of faith. But can I just say one thing I've learned? Whether you are "in ministry" (which I assume you mean that you are being paid for it as a minister) or whether you are taking a normal job, our entire life is meant to be ministry - ambassadors for Christ -- there's no qualification. So you can do that anywhere. But glad you're encouraged for Europe. They really need people who are shining examples, walking in the light here. :D Hope that's your journey if you want it in the future.
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