We all completed extensive personality assessments -- and by extensive, I mean 2+ hours, over 200 questions -- to help us take a (hopefully) objective look at who we are as men. Being a "learning and development professional," I'm no stranger to these sorts of assessments (I'm an INTP, by the way), so I generally approach with caution. What turned out to be more interesting than the individual assessments, was the way this group of men slowly began to admit to what generally remains unspoken in our world. Tonight, I think it all came to a head, and everyone finally admitted the sad truth: We are all slaves -- yes, that's the right word -- to comfort, security, duty, and possessions.
It's such a subtle lie, and such an insidious plan of attack: How better to steal us away from our intended purpose and design than to press the form of our efforts into the clay of the world's wisdom and call it "fidelity to duty"?
There are nights when I read about the New Testament church and, like Francis Chan, I wonder: "Are we hopelessly far from what God asks us to be because of the convenience modern life affords us?" I don't know. I know that what I and my family consider "needs" are far different from what most people 3000 years -- or miles -- distant from me would consider the same. My children throw themselves to the floor and wail when the Transformers toy they were promised isn't in stock at Target. They don't know hunger, thirst, or cold. I wonder, can we understand what God is asking of us if we're so melded to the earth -- so distant from the surfaces of heaven and hell? I don't know.
I left the men's group tonight with more definition around the discomfort I've felt for a while now. I made the error of saying tonight, "I think they had it easier back in the early days of the church in some ways ..." Someone stopped me, and rightly clarified: "Not easier: simpler." Starker or more plain might be another way to say it. And that's it. I'm mindful, frequently, of the great Choir song, "Children of Time":
Columbus sailed across the sea to trouble our theology,
What goes up still comes down,
Where is heaven if the world is round?
Cosmonauts were first in space, to look for God and find no trace,
With a killer cloud of reason for rhyme, the devil enlightens the children of time.
I told the guys tonight that one of the scariest verses in the Bible to me is "Seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added unto you." What, then, does that mean, to someone not seeking God's Kingdom? And what exactly does seeking his Kingdom look like in 2011? I suspect it looks quite different from what I'm spending most of my time doing.
