A Guest Post by Darlene Wagler
I remember sitting in Sunday school at the age of sixteen asking why we didn’t see the Holy Spirit working today like we see in the New Testament church. Our teacher responded that the outpouring of the Holy Spirit was for new believers in a particular time. I remember feeling at the time that it felt like we were explaining away rather than wondering and praying for the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
In a podcast I heard the other day, Jimmy McGee was talking about theology and how what Jesus came to earth to do was not only to die for our sins so we could go to heaven, but to offer abundant life…to bring heaven to earth. I have often wrestled with the abstract nature of the gospel. So what? If all I can look forward to…if all I have to gain is heaven in some future abstract world, it doesn’t always feel worth it. I think it is a cry and complaint worth tending to.
We are made for more!
The rocks are crying out for redemption! We ultimately do put our hope in heaven, but we were made to experience life and our hearts know we are missing something! The gospel I was preached seems good and holy and faithful.
It does not demand anything of God. It puts all its hope in heaven…or does it?
I believe it is actually faithless. It is a gospel that does not really need God. It has spiritualized self-sufficiency and protects itself from being disappointed by God. It is a safe gospel because it is not controlled by God. Its faith is not in God, but rather in a lifestyle that is “a way to Heaven.”
(Thank you, Darlene, for sharing your “journal thoughts” so that we can all be challenged and encouraged) -Wes