Our pastor’s sermon today was about the danger of religion. Meaning the danger of relying on a religion or system or rules to have a relationship with God. His point (and a good one) was that many people have even been good, evangelical Christians and completely missed the idea. They got caught up in living a certain kind of life, following certain rules and felt o.k. about themselves. How wrong that can be…
It reminded me of an interview I read a few months ago between Bono (of U2) and an author who is not a follower of Jesus. Their conversation drifted into spirituality. Bono makes this statement about grace that is one of the most powerful I’ve heard…
Bono: You see, at the center of all religions is the idea of Karma. You know, what you put out comes back to you: an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, or in physics—in physical laws—every action is met by an equal or an opposite one. It's clear to me that Karma is at the very heart of the universe. I'm absolutely sure of it. And yet, along comes this idea called Grace to upend all that "as you reap, so you will sow" stuff. Grace defies reason and logic. Love interrupts, if you like, the consequences of your actions, which in my case is very good news indeed, because I've done a lot of stupid stuff.
Assayas: I'd be interested to hear that.
Bono: That's between me and God. But I'd be in big trouble if Karma was going to finally be my judge. I'd be in deep shit. It doesn't excuse my mistakes, but I'm holding out for Grace. I'm holding out that Jesus took my sins onto the Cross, because I know who I am, and I hope I don't have to depend on my own religiosity.
All I can say to that is AMEN and AMEN! May it be for me as well!
You can read a larger excerpt of this interview (which became a book) here
02 April, 2006
Passion and Football
The Major League Soccer season (MLS) kicked off this weekend. My beloved Chicago Fire opened on the road at FC Dallas. The hated “hoops”. The Fire will actually play their first 9 games on the road waiting for the opening of their new stadium in June. The season started off on a very down note. The Fire lost 3-2. It was especially disappointing considering we were up 0-1 and 1-2 before Dallas came back to win. The only encouraging thing was that a couple of our young players played extremely well. Most notably Chris Rolfe.
It’s very difficult to explain the passion associated with being a football (soccer) fan to pretty much anyone. The rest of the world understands but Americans just don’t get it. You live and die with your club. The ups and downs are incredible. I was pretty much grumpy all Saturday evening after the Fire loss. I don’t know many fans of traditional American sports that come close to most football fans.
Unfortunately, when I compare this aspect of my life and being a follower of Jesus the comparison just isn’t that good. Many times I’m not nearly as passionate or concerned about my spiritual life as I am about how the Fire are doing, what moves the front office is making or even how some of our former players are doing in Europe. I want to be. I want to be extremely passionate about following Jesus. I want to think virtually all the time about Jesus. About what being a student of His means for me day-by-day, hour-to-hour. But, it’s not. I think it’s that way for most of us.
’ve been confused by this in my own life and what I’ve observed in other followers of Jesus for many years. Why do we live so dispassionate, so quiet lives in light of the absolutely amazing, overwhelming gift of grace in Jesus? People of other faiths so often put us to shame. I went to college with a couple guys from Palestine. They were Arabs and Muslim. They would occasionally (though not very often) engage those of us who were Christians in debate. It was amazing to me how they knew sections of the Koran from memory, even sections of our scriptures. To be honest it put me to shame. But did it impress this on me enough to change my ways. No.
Hopefully one day I will come to the point where my relationship with Jesus will be more important to me than it is now. Or at least I’ll demonstrate by my calendar and actions that it is. With God’s strength I hope…
Oh, and by the way...
GO FIRE!
Tradition, Honor, Passion
Don't stop living in the Red!
It’s very difficult to explain the passion associated with being a football (soccer) fan to pretty much anyone. The rest of the world understands but Americans just don’t get it. You live and die with your club. The ups and downs are incredible. I was pretty much grumpy all Saturday evening after the Fire loss. I don’t know many fans of traditional American sports that come close to most football fans.
Unfortunately, when I compare this aspect of my life and being a follower of Jesus the comparison just isn’t that good. Many times I’m not nearly as passionate or concerned about my spiritual life as I am about how the Fire are doing, what moves the front office is making or even how some of our former players are doing in Europe. I want to be. I want to be extremely passionate about following Jesus. I want to think virtually all the time about Jesus. About what being a student of His means for me day-by-day, hour-to-hour. But, it’s not. I think it’s that way for most of us.
’ve been confused by this in my own life and what I’ve observed in other followers of Jesus for many years. Why do we live so dispassionate, so quiet lives in light of the absolutely amazing, overwhelming gift of grace in Jesus? People of other faiths so often put us to shame. I went to college with a couple guys from Palestine. They were Arabs and Muslim. They would occasionally (though not very often) engage those of us who were Christians in debate. It was amazing to me how they knew sections of the Koran from memory, even sections of our scriptures. To be honest it put me to shame. But did it impress this on me enough to change my ways. No.
Hopefully one day I will come to the point where my relationship with Jesus will be more important to me than it is now. Or at least I’ll demonstrate by my calendar and actions that it is. With God’s strength I hope…
Oh, and by the way...
GO FIRE!
Tradition, Honor, Passion
Don't stop living in the Red!
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