When I think of Jerusalem I can’t help but think of Jesus walking the ancient streets and going up the southern stairs to the temple mount to pray. It is a city that I am connected to, a city that every Christian is connected to, a city of new peace. This morning I miss that city. This morning I am praying for the peace of Jerusalem.

It seems odd to me that we often lose site of what is most important considering how short life really is. I know I will be doing so priortizing after this weekend, can’t wait to spend some time with my family!

I hate to admit, but many pastors have failed me over the years. I have watched men I respect preach messages with clear non-biblical motives while sprinkling in just enough scripture to fool most people into thinking its a Biblical message. I have served pastors so wrapped up in themselves and their world that they lacked time and focus to really help in my development as a Christ follower and leader. I have had pastors that lacked any Kingdom mindedness because they were only interested in their small part of the world.

The truth is this. Pastors are still people, and people (all people) screw up and act selfishly at times. All pastors will hurt someone that they are trying to lead, that is an irrevocable truth. So, we must not put our hope in pastors, we must put our hope in Jesus. He will not fail.

It is good to have people that we look up to and respect. It is good to sit under sound Biblical teaching. However, our main source of inspiration to love God, our main source of learning about God and our main source of how we connect with God must always be God Himself. He is our source. There is no pastor or leader that can properly fill that role.

Pastors will fail you, Jesus will not. Follow Jesus.

A good friend pointed out that this is the problem with American Christianity and after mulling it over for a little while, I’m inclined to agree. Which brings me to several questions and observations.

• How have we taken our relationship with our Creator so lightly that we have the audacity to choose to watch TV when we haven’t even said hello to Him all day?
• Why do we feel entitled to rest at the end of the day by spending hours being totally unproductive? Does productivity during the day mean that the evening must be unproductive? That is ridiculous, no one “deserves” anything, we are not entitled.
• Why do I have such an insatiable desire to be entertained all the time, to the point that I actually avoid silence? You might do this too. When is the last time you rode in the car without the radio on purpose?
• Is my desire for constant entertainment a reflection of how truly self centered I am at heart? Or is it a shield that keeps me from thinking too deeply and having to deal with some of the sin issues in my life?
• America’s addiction to entertainment is clearly unhealthy and will continue to lead us down a path that is very far from God.
• Christians should not forsake “secular” entertainment just too substitute it with “Christian” entertainment. The problem is not the message of the entertainment, but the medium itself and what it does to our thinking.
• Churches that focus their meetings on entertaining their people are doing their people a great disservice. Following Jesus has nothing to do with being entertained and everything to do with forsaking distractions to follow Him.

Thoughts?

There was one part of it in particular that I thought was interesting:

One of the big attractions of megachurches, the study found, is that they offer savvy consumers an opportunity to pick and choose their level of commitment.

“Part of the attraction of the megachurch is that it provides a way for folks to shape their spiritual experience to best meet their needs,” said Scott Thumma, the lead researcher.

Any thoughts on this?

Discuss…

If these things aren’t happening at the moment, how about in the last year, or the last two years?

If we are to claim these things, we have to actively live them out, otherwise we are no better than the Pharisees who claimed a lot about God, but knew very little of what it meant to walk with Him.

Following Jesus is not a matter of mere words, but a life of dynamic relationship with the Lord leading to action.

Thanks to my brother Chad for asking these tough questions.

Any thoughts?

For this reason I am becoming more and more convinced of the need for followers of Jesus to be willing to take a “drastic” step and begin to familiarize themselves with the language of God’s people. If you think about, you really have nothing to lose, but a lot of understanding to gain.

If you are interested, I have started doing a little study at www.hebrew4christians.com, I encourage you to check it out!