Hot Potatoe

It amazes me, as I dialogue with various people, that the things I´m mulling over in my mind are making revolutions in the heads of others as well. It makes me look to the ceiling and say, "Yes, I´m normal!"....maybe.
My past blog briefly touched on some of those annoying emails that get passed around like hot potatoes in "Christian" circles. I think they get tossed around so often because the ones who receive them are as uncomfortable with them as I am. They aren`t sure what to do with them, so like a wave tossed by the wind, they drag their mouse to the forward button and "click". The emails I´m talking about are the ones that deliver flowery poems, modern parables, or "true" stories meant to challenge the reader in some way. They drip with spiritual lingo and are usually adorned with lovely graphics in pastel hues. Granted, some of them may serve well as illustrations and may hold some trace of truth. They lose ALL my respect when tacked on the end I read this:

Now that you´ve read this moving and inspiring message, send it to 15 other people, including the one who sent it to you. If you really love Jesus, you shouldn´t be ashamed to do this. If you don´t, then God will be ashamed of you. If you do this in the next half hour, you will recieve an unexpected phone call. Trust me, it works! I didn´t believe it either, but now that I´ve done it, I believe!!

Sounds like a hokey, evangelistic rally via email...the kind that I find embarassing as a Christ follower. Why do they irritate me SO much? First, because it´s blatantly superstitious. Second, is that it encourages a "works" mentality. These emails are contributing to a major misconception of right living. They are sent, and sent, and sent again out of guilt and spiritual insecurity.

What does it mean to live right? To follow Christ? To have His mind? Does living right mean sending off scraps of spirtual trite in a half-ass effort to fulfill the great commission? Yes, I wrote "half-ass", does that mean that I don´t have the mind of Christ?

One of my friends has the most astounding faith in Christ. She can testify to the provision of God in her life and ministry. The other night when she heard that the churches were making a decision regarding land that her and her husband wanted to purchase, we dropped everything to pray. This same friend, in casual conversation, can drop four letter bombs like a verbal tank. I´m not always comfortable with her linguistic explosions, but I don´t doubt her sincere love and trust in God for a second!

When you send off an email like the ones I´ve been writing about, you´re missing the point. God doesn´t care whether you send it or not. It´s easy to send off a word into a virtual world with no face, but what will you say when you come face to face with someone who really needs to hear authentic truth? What would I see if I looked into your eyes instead of looking at your email? What would you see in mine, if you were looking at them instead of reading this blog?

Right living does not consist in whether or not we forward that well intentioned email or not. It is not found in our ratio of bad language vs. prayer language. It´s not about what we do...entirely (that´s another day, another blog). David Crowder wrote his first book, Praise Habit - Finding God in Sunsets and Sushi, and I´m reading it right now. He talks about how people miss the intent of Scripture when they try to define right living in terms of how much we drink, cuss, smoke, and a variety of other dangerous activities. He comments,

"I am familiar with a copious quantity of people who do not participate in any of these activities yet walk around lifeless, as dead and intriguing as a pile of dirt."

So true. We, the essence of soil, find life in Christ, not works. When someone passes along the types of emails that I´ve been blasting, I can´t help but think that hot potatoe is a game best left to children...I´d rather get my fingers burned.