American Attitude Adjustment

John Piper has had some words for me lately. Actually, God has had some words for me and He used John Piper to relay the message through his book Don't Waste Your Life. It confirms that sneaky suspicion I've had for a very long time, the one that inspired this blog: The average American/Western Christian is way off the mark.

At our best, we've bought into a mentality that if we just spend enough time at home with our families, (somewhat) carefully manage our media and, at least for most of the church, avoid alcohol and anything considered "loose living," we can pat ourselves on the back and go on our way. The world will be utterly amazed at how "different" we are and like magnets, without ever saying a word, we'll attract sinners to Christ by the day.

So, how's that workin' for ya?

It hasn't taken many pages of Piper's book for me to once again conclude, we are seriously disturbed and lethally mistaken.

[There are moments], when the trifling fog of life clears and I see what I am really on earth to do, I groan over the petty pursuits that waste so many lives - and so much of mine. Just think of the magnitude of sports - a whole section of the daily newspaper. But there is no section on God. Think of the endless resources for making your home and garden more comfortable and impressive. Think of how many tens of thousands of dollars you can spend to buy more car than you need. Think of the time and energy and conversation that go into entertainment and leisure and what we call "fun stuff." And add to that now the computer that artificially recreates the very games that are already so distant from reality; it is like a multi-layered dreamworld of insignificance expanding into nothingness.

The sermon in our church today was on having the attitude of Christ and pulled from Philipians 2:2,5, and 8. As I sat and listened, I journaled the following (in quotations):

"We need the 'attitude and purpose and (humble) mind' of Christ."

I've always thought somehow that was about me carrying my cross the way that Christ humbled himself to The Cross and bore it according to God's will and design, and usually that conjured a great deal of pain and unhappiness . . . "martyr syndrome"! But today, something else was stirred in my heart about being conformed to the image of Christ:

"We can never really carry The Cross (seems like foolishness to consider that we might - He carried it expressly because we couldn't and can't). Jesus did it, only Jesus could do it; only Jesus is worthy of the task. The utmost we can do is let the truth of The Cross bear down on us and so press into us that we are permeated with it and it oozes out of us as a grateful heart, a contrite spirit and extravagant love.

If we set ourselves in this way to The Cross, we will never have to ask, 'What is it Lord that you desire me to do (or not to do)?' and we will not have to strive for oneness in the body of believers. As individuals, we will be about the business of glorifying and magnifying Christ in all things, and we will collectively be 'one in purpose, having the same love, being in full accord and of one harmonious mind and intention' (Philipians 2:2)."

What the world should be drawn to is the magnified Christ in us, expressed in the effusive joy of His disciples. But where is that joy in the American church? Do you honestly see it? It's better than Gatorade. Is it in you?

"Shouldn't we ultimately come to a place where ALL things truly lose ALL value and worth in our hearts and minds (when compared to the banner over our lives which is The Cross), so that we cling solely to Christ (crucified), and in that grasp we hold onto and are captive to joy (deep eternal joy). We put ourselves so often in position to lose joy because we still find it, try to find it, outside of The Cross."