I’m a big movie fan. And as a movie fan, I am a strong believer that movies are a great pulse in our culture today. Last weekend I was watching Talladega Nights with my wife. If you’ve ever seen the movie, there is a well known scene in which Will Ferrell prays over the food at lunch. Rather than the typical prayer to Jesus, Will’s character, Ricky Bobby prays to “dear tiny infant baby Jesus, with golden fleece diapers...” Why? Because according to Ricky, “I like the Christmas Jesus best!” His teammate replies, “I like to picture Jesus in a tuxedo tee shirt, cause it says, like, I want to be formal, but I’m here to party too. Cause I like to party so I like my Jesus to party…”
While part of me was slightly offended, and another part caught up in laughter, I realized that this scene illustrated an important point in both my life and in the world today, and that point is that we are consistently guilty of worshiping the God that we want. I so commonly create in my heart a god that is benevolent, forgiving, understanding, empowering, and in every way, protecting and seeking my best. Sometimes, however, my god does not resemble the God of scripture. Absent from this god is an intolerance for my sin, an insistence for his own glory, and a supremacy over my life. Unfortunately, I often see that this god has replaced the God of scripture on the throne of my life, and I see this trend becoming more and more prevalent in today’s culture as well.
I recently sat down with another Christian at dinner that surprised me with a conversation about Christ. I had not known that this individual was a believer, and was instantly excited about the common bond that we now shared. However, as we began to talk about Jesus, I began to hear about a very different Jesus than the one I know. Rather than a savior that claimed to be the one true Son of God and only way to salvation, this Jesus was a peacemaker that sought to provide an example of how men were to lead, forgiving the misunderstandings of those who chose not to believe in him, and one that would never allow a place such as hell to exist. I realized very quickly that we were speaking of two very different people. One was a Jesus who I knew from scripture, and the other was a Jesus everyone could accept without ever truly submitting to his authority. I even found myself somewhat uncomfortable defending the Jesus of scripture to this person, recognizing that what my friend was saying was very inoffensive, and what I was saying could easily be taken offensively by many. What I was saying was exclusive; what I was saying was condemning to many; and what I was saying was contradicting what many believed to be true. In a nutshell, what I was saying was not what most people, including my friend, wanted to hear.
I must admit that I so easily fall into the trap of wanting a God that I can mold and shape according to my desires, and to the desires of those around me, yet when I step back and meditate on the God that I know, I praise Him for being much more than I could ever imagine or desire Him to be. I confess that as one popular author puts it, our god is too small. I thank God for being more than we make Him out to be. I am proud to say that I worship the One true God, who is holy, and sometimes even unpopular. So unpopular, that what He preached resulted in His being nailed to a cross, but then raised to life and crowned with ultimate authority. He is the God that I worship, and He is the God that I will serve, no matter how popular or unpopular that is.
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