The first time I ever heard the word relevant in relation to Christianity was about ten years ago. I was in college at the time and had a real heart for evangelism so the term became very important to me. In the circles I ran with it was a buzzword of epic proportions. Everybody wanted to be more and more relevant to lost people and we shook our heads at Christians we deemed to be "irrelevant" to the world. I remember hearing people brag about how many lost friends they had and how many things they did that were "anti-religious." The 'Relevant' movement was really a response to the legalistic and 'holier than thou' movement that seemed to precede it. We (rightly) wanted the world to see us as loving, non-judge mental, and not religious in the legalistic sense of the word. Whatever the outcome, I'm so glad we've moved moved out of THAT season. I grew up in an environment of legalism and rejected it as a high school student so I naturally gravitated to the relevant movement.
As much as I loved ditching the chains of legalism that I thought came as part of the Christian package, I remember at times coming across people that seemed to have a much different definition of the word relevant than I did. There were times that I even thought "Yeah, Jesus spent time with the lost people, but He didn't become one of them, right?"
I've learned a lot in the last ten years and recently I've been thinking a lot about this topic. I'm more convinced than ever that the world needs a relevant voice as desperately as I need my next breath. But what I mean by relevant is very different than what I use to mean. Here's the definition from Merriam-Webster:
(a) having significant and demonstrable bearing on the matter at hand
(b) affording evidence tending to prove or disprove the matter at issue or under discussion
(c) having social relevance
No doubt in my mind that I use to view being relevant through the lens of that last one. Based on my observations, I would say that's what a lot in the Christian community did at the time too. For a while there all I heard about was how this musician was the "Christian Eminem" or how this comedian was the "Christian Chris Rock." I know I'm dating myself, but stay with me. Looking back, it was as if we were following the worlds lead hoping to win their approval. That most people substituted the word relevant with accepted and their mission was to be considered cool by the worlds standards.
I often felt like most Christians were searching for less distinction between them and the lost despite Gods desire for us to different (2 Corinthians 6:14-18). This became more and more interesting to me the more I became exposed to it. Mostly because I so desperately wanted to be NOT like me once God began pursuing my heart and wooing me to Himself. I also wanted to be nothing like my friends. I needed new friends who loved God and cared about doing what is right. The fact that there were people there that had no shame in serving God was amazing to me. When I began to attend church I was so glad the people there were nothing like me!
My hope is that we redefine what it means to be relevant to this world. Lets look at the first definition of the word again:
Relevant - Having significant and demonstrable bearing on the matter at hand.
I also looked up the definition of the word bearing and feel like it helps when you substitute that into the definition:
Relevant - Having significant and demonstrable PRESSURE OR THRUST on the matter at hand.
To me this shifts the definition from acceptance to influence, from an approval seeking to a position of strength and confidence.
The world desperately needs the voice of the church, but I'm afraid that voice has lost its power and significance. It seems to me that more and more we are disregarded and marginalized. This makes us much less relevant to the world.
Allow me to illustrate the difference in another way. Here's a story of Jesus from Mark 6:
Mark 6: 1-6 - He went away from there and came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him. And on the Sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astonished, saying, “Where did this man get these things? What is the wisdom given to him? How are such mighty works done by his hands? Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him. And Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor, except in his hometown and among his relatives and in his own household.” And he could do no mighty work there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them. And he marveled because of their unbelief. And he went about among the villages teaching.
In one sense of the word (Definition C) Jesus couldn't have possibly been more relevant to these people. They knew him from way back. They knew His family, they knew Him as a kid, they knew him as a teenager. They knew everything about Him as a man. They were probably His customers and bought lots of furniture from Him. He could not have been more socially relevant to them than He was.
But was he able to influence them? Did His words have significant bearing on their lives? Unfortunately, not. In fact, they took offense at him. They were mad that he even dared to preach to them based solely on the fact that they considered Him to be "one of them." If they acted the same way we do when we get offended they probably went home saying, "Who does he think he is? Does He think He's better than us?"
Now let me make one thing clear. I'm not suggesting we go back to our legalistic roots. We do not need to look down our noses at the lost and act as if we are better and smarter than them. That's foolishness and my hope is that the gospel will eradicate that idea completely. I am suggesting, however, that we become more okay with the idea of being separated to Christ. That we are His bride and have taken His name and therefore there should be a difference in our lives. In a sense we should be separated, but not segregated.
I'll have more posts on this in the future and be able to expand on these ideas, but for now I'd like to hear your feed back. Do you agree? Disagree? Let me know your thoughts.
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Two miracles.... and Counting
As many of you already know, Brandi and I just welcomed in the arrival of our second baby boy - Isaiah Cooper Shoemake! We are so excited about our growing family and like most parents consider our newborn a blessing and a miracle from God. But I wanted to take an opportunity to share with you a part of the story that you probably don't know and why both of our boys are such an amazing gift from God.
When Brandi and I got married we both decided we wanted a big family with as many children as God saw fit to bless us with. We also couldn't find any good reason to delay the process, since at the time it was taking most of our friends months to get pregnant. To our surprise and joy we were able to get pregnant within a month of our wedding! We were humbled by God's grace even then, but it got even bigger on the day of Eli's birth.
We had prayed so hard for a natural birth and even prayed against Brandi having to have a C Section. The day he was born I spent the entire day pacing back and forth in the delivery room praying for God to answer those prayers. Needless to say we were a little disappointed when 21 hours into labor the doctor felt like a C-section was unavoidable and that Eli could be in danger. At the same time we had total trust in God and were really excited to finally meet our first born son. As the Dr. pulled him out we felt all of the emotions a new parent feels when they lay eyes on their child for the first time.
We couldn't imagine it getting any better. And then it did. The Dr. asked Brandi a couple of strange questions and then called me over to see him. It was a little scary at first when he pointed out many dark spots that covered Brandi's uterus and asked me if I knew what it was. Of course I didn't and he went on to explain to me that not only was it endometriosis, but it was what he called "stage 4+ endometriosis." I still wasn't quite sure what to make of it, though, and he went on to explain to me that endometriosis even at the lowest stages can cause many difficulties in getting pregnant.
But when someone has the higher stages (4+), it almost always means infertility.
I prayed hard against that C-Section, but little did I know that it was going to be God's way of showing us how big of a miracle Eli was!
Now almost two years later we have welcomed in our second miracle baby and we are in total amazement of God's grace and ability to overcome any obstacle. We are blown away by His love for us every time we look at our two boys.
Thanks for reading this and sharing in our miracle!
Cal, Brandi, Eli and Isaiah.
When Brandi and I got married we both decided we wanted a big family with as many children as God saw fit to bless us with. We also couldn't find any good reason to delay the process, since at the time it was taking most of our friends months to get pregnant. To our surprise and joy we were able to get pregnant within a month of our wedding! We were humbled by God's grace even then, but it got even bigger on the day of Eli's birth.
We had prayed so hard for a natural birth and even prayed against Brandi having to have a C Section. The day he was born I spent the entire day pacing back and forth in the delivery room praying for God to answer those prayers. Needless to say we were a little disappointed when 21 hours into labor the doctor felt like a C-section was unavoidable and that Eli could be in danger. At the same time we had total trust in God and were really excited to finally meet our first born son. As the Dr. pulled him out we felt all of the emotions a new parent feels when they lay eyes on their child for the first time.
We couldn't imagine it getting any better. And then it did. The Dr. asked Brandi a couple of strange questions and then called me over to see him. It was a little scary at first when he pointed out many dark spots that covered Brandi's uterus and asked me if I knew what it was. Of course I didn't and he went on to explain to me that not only was it endometriosis, but it was what he called "stage 4+ endometriosis." I still wasn't quite sure what to make of it, though, and he went on to explain to me that endometriosis even at the lowest stages can cause many difficulties in getting pregnant.
But when someone has the higher stages (4+), it almost always means infertility.
I prayed hard against that C-Section, but little did I know that it was going to be God's way of showing us how big of a miracle Eli was!
Now almost two years later we have welcomed in our second miracle baby and we are in total amazement of God's grace and ability to overcome any obstacle. We are blown away by His love for us every time we look at our two boys.
Thanks for reading this and sharing in our miracle!
Cal, Brandi, Eli and Isaiah.
Monday, January 5, 2009
God, you, and.....Chuck Norris?
A good friend of mine told me a story a few years back that has stuck with me ever since. At the time my friend and his brother were sharing a room and going to school.
One morning my friend woke up before his brother and started getting ready for the day. When his brother woke up a few minutes later he looked over and said, “Man, I just had a terrible dream.”
“What was it?”
“It was so weird…. I dreamed that God was trying to kill me!! Can you believe that?”
“Well…. actually…. He kinda is”
2 things about that story.
First,
What does he mean TRYING?!?
How was God trying to kill him? Was He unsuccessful? Was it really hard for God? Was He trying something new like a gun or a knife? Was He getting bored with the whole “and the Earth swallowed them up” deal? What about fire and brimstone? In this guys dream, were those methods not good enough to get the job done? If so, he must be the baddest man on the planet. This guy is like Chuck Norris if he and Barry Bonds ever had the same “trainer” bad. (For those of you who may not get that or if you just want a good laugh, check out this site http://www.chucknorrisfacts.com/)
And second,
Don’t worry, God doesn’t want to actually kill you. What my friend means, of course, is that God wants you to die to yourself and he is trying to live in and through you to touch a world in desperate need of Him. Isn’t that awesome? God actually wants to live inside of you.
The only catch is that for Him to do that, you have to get yourself out of the way, and that’s hard. It’s never easy to break old selfish habits and ways of life because they’re engrained in us from such a young age.
The key is to remember that it’s worth it. When you really think about it, you’re giving up next to nothing and gaining a lot. If we can give up our selfishness, we get to have the Lord of the universe live in our hearts and show us an abundant life.
What part of your life could God be trying to get you to die to this week?
One morning my friend woke up before his brother and started getting ready for the day. When his brother woke up a few minutes later he looked over and said, “Man, I just had a terrible dream.”
“What was it?”
“It was so weird…. I dreamed that God was trying to kill me!! Can you believe that?”
“Well…. actually…. He kinda is”
2 things about that story.
First,
What does he mean TRYING?!?
How was God trying to kill him? Was He unsuccessful? Was it really hard for God? Was He trying something new like a gun or a knife? Was He getting bored with the whole “and the Earth swallowed them up” deal? What about fire and brimstone? In this guys dream, were those methods not good enough to get the job done? If so, he must be the baddest man on the planet. This guy is like Chuck Norris if he and Barry Bonds ever had the same “trainer” bad. (For those of you who may not get that or if you just want a good laugh, check out this site http://www.chucknorrisfacts.com/)
And second,
Don’t worry, God doesn’t want to actually kill you. What my friend means, of course, is that God wants you to die to yourself and he is trying to live in and through you to touch a world in desperate need of Him. Isn’t that awesome? God actually wants to live inside of you.
The only catch is that for Him to do that, you have to get yourself out of the way, and that’s hard. It’s never easy to break old selfish habits and ways of life because they’re engrained in us from such a young age.
The key is to remember that it’s worth it. When you really think about it, you’re giving up next to nothing and gaining a lot. If we can give up our selfishness, we get to have the Lord of the universe live in our hearts and show us an abundant life.
What part of your life could God be trying to get you to die to this week?
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
I'm pretty sure that I think I might know who I am, maybe
I know that a typical first blog tells about who you are, but...
First, a short list of things I am not and will probably never be:
1. Professional Athlete.
Unless of course fantasy football counts one day, in which case I hope the Yankees have a team that I could play for and Scott Boras would agree to be my agent.
2. A winner of American Idol
Although I do a riveting rendition of “How Great Thou Art” that sends goose bumps down the arms of all who hear it. (Anybody who has heard me do this is laughing hysterically right now)
3. A winner of “So You Think You Can Dance”
But ONLY because of my knee surgery, otherwise I would so totally OWN that show!!!!
4. The host of a “Do it yourself” series on HGTV
If there was an award for least likely to be this, I would win hands down. (I kid you not, while I was writing this on my lunch break at work, a coworker came to my office and asked me to help them fix the file cabinet. I spent three minutes fooling with it and we probably will need some kind of professional to come look at it now. I seriously might have just cost the company money by pretending to know what I was doing. How’s that for irony? I couldn’t make this stuff up.)
The list goes on for miles, but those are the highlights, or at least the funny ones. If I listed all of the things that I was not I would probably need to start a whole new blog and I just don’t think that’s the best direction for this one. (Although it would probably be a entertaining blog to read. We could even make it into sort of a message board where everybody could come and post all of the things they are not. It could be therapeutic for everyone to sort of let go of trying to be something they aren’t. Just a thought).
In reality, I was never meant to be any of those things and for the most part I’m okay with who I am not (I’m really bitter about the dance thing!). The thing that worries me the most is that if I was forced to come up with a list of things that I am, I would have a much tougher time with that.
Why is that? Could you do it?
What if God himself asked you to come up with a list of who he has made you to be? What would you say? Would it sound something like “uh…well, I’m kinda funny, I guess… uh, well, uh, I’m good at… uh… ok. I have no idea”?
Maybe you can’t relate to this, but I have a feeling that most of us can. God made us all so unique that it’s difficult for us to really put it all into words. Okay, so you know you’re funny, but isn’t there an infinite amount of comedic styles?
Smart, funny, witty goofy or serious just don’t seem to be good enough to capture the essence of such a uniquely created person.
Even though they are very fun to do and can be quite informative, personality tests don’t seem to be enough. Especially since most only acknowledge four personality types! Like God made 479,436,987 types of bugs, but only four types of people!
Perhaps we should start by asking much deeper questions.
What inspires me?
What would I do everyday if money was not an issue?
What would I do if I knew that I couldn’t fail?
And as we ask these questions we should ask God for His guidance to find the answers. After all, the only right motivation to finding out who we really are is so that we can live lives that are glorifying to God and meaningful to others.
Today, take some time to think about these things. It may seem strange, but then again, it might be the most productive thing you do all day.
First, a short list of things I am not and will probably never be:
1. Professional Athlete.
Unless of course fantasy football counts one day, in which case I hope the Yankees have a team that I could play for and Scott Boras would agree to be my agent.
2. A winner of American Idol
Although I do a riveting rendition of “How Great Thou Art” that sends goose bumps down the arms of all who hear it. (Anybody who has heard me do this is laughing hysterically right now)
3. A winner of “So You Think You Can Dance”
But ONLY because of my knee surgery, otherwise I would so totally OWN that show!!!!
4. The host of a “Do it yourself” series on HGTV
If there was an award for least likely to be this, I would win hands down. (I kid you not, while I was writing this on my lunch break at work, a coworker came to my office and asked me to help them fix the file cabinet. I spent three minutes fooling with it and we probably will need some kind of professional to come look at it now. I seriously might have just cost the company money by pretending to know what I was doing. How’s that for irony? I couldn’t make this stuff up.)
The list goes on for miles, but those are the highlights, or at least the funny ones. If I listed all of the things that I was not I would probably need to start a whole new blog and I just don’t think that’s the best direction for this one. (Although it would probably be a entertaining blog to read. We could even make it into sort of a message board where everybody could come and post all of the things they are not. It could be therapeutic for everyone to sort of let go of trying to be something they aren’t. Just a thought).
In reality, I was never meant to be any of those things and for the most part I’m okay with who I am not (I’m really bitter about the dance thing!). The thing that worries me the most is that if I was forced to come up with a list of things that I am, I would have a much tougher time with that.
Why is that? Could you do it?
What if God himself asked you to come up with a list of who he has made you to be? What would you say? Would it sound something like “uh…well, I’m kinda funny, I guess… uh, well, uh, I’m good at… uh… ok. I have no idea”?
Maybe you can’t relate to this, but I have a feeling that most of us can. God made us all so unique that it’s difficult for us to really put it all into words. Okay, so you know you’re funny, but isn’t there an infinite amount of comedic styles?
Smart, funny, witty goofy or serious just don’t seem to be good enough to capture the essence of such a uniquely created person.
Even though they are very fun to do and can be quite informative, personality tests don’t seem to be enough. Especially since most only acknowledge four personality types! Like God made 479,436,987 types of bugs, but only four types of people!
Perhaps we should start by asking much deeper questions.
What inspires me?
What would I do everyday if money was not an issue?
What would I do if I knew that I couldn’t fail?
And as we ask these questions we should ask God for His guidance to find the answers. After all, the only right motivation to finding out who we really are is so that we can live lives that are glorifying to God and meaningful to others.
Today, take some time to think about these things. It may seem strange, but then again, it might be the most productive thing you do all day.
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