While preparing for a pre-game meal and
chapel talk one day, an assistant women’s basketball coach commented to me,
“You’re not like most of the religious people I’ve known.” I smiled and
replied, “Good. I don’t intend to be religious. I would prefer to
be highly committed to Christ, but rather irreligious.” She said, “That’s
interesting.” My reflexive comment to my friend was true and heart-felt
and I’m still happy with it.
I’d like to explore the difference between
being “religious” and being “highly committed to Christ.” Religious
people carry the external trappings of Christianity as their defining
marks. Highly committed Christians carry their commitment to Jesus
internally as their defining characteristic and allow that commitment to find
external expression in numerous, often less religious ways. Some examples
of each may help us see the difference.
Religious people speak with each other in
clichés and the King James language they learn at church. Highly
committed believers in Jesus are free to speak in the language of the
subculture in which they are serving Him; in our case, that is the language of
sport. Religious people would rather sit in judgment over people whose
lifestyles don’t fit their standards. Highly committed Christian men and
women demonstrate love and commitment to those they serve without respect to
their lifestyles, wise or foolish. Their grasp of their own wickedness of
heart and the weakness of their own flesh keeps judgmental attitudes at bay.
I don’t shun the sinful or cluck my tongue at
foolish speech. I don’t Tebow because it’s trendy nor do I repeat or
retweet every syllable uttered by John Piper (insert the name of any other
celebrity preacher) as if it were holy writ. I don’t pretend that
attending my local church is the answer to everyone’s social ills and that if
they simply walk through the door all their problems will be solved. I
don’t counsel new believers in Jesus to shun their former circle of friends and
teammates in order to adopt a more suitable set of friends who won’t pollute
their lives with wickedness. I don’t wear WWJD bracelets and I haven’t
burned my secular music recordings (Gasp!). I don’t go to trendy
“Christian films” which are simply gospel tracts on celluloid. I’m bored
with the passionless music poured out by contemporary Christian music stations
and I’m repulsed by Southern Gospel music. I prefer reading Seth Godin
and Malcom Gladwell to Max Lucado and Joel Osteen.
This distaste for “religious” things and
preference for “heartfelt commitment” often leads to my being misunderstood by
others in the Church. I’m fine with that. I rather enjoy the
questions asked of me about such things; the question asked by the assistant
basketball coach being emblematic of such questions and the conversations which
normally follow. Please take the risk of being misunderstood and
questioned about your lack of religiousness in favor of a genuine, passionate
expression of your love for the Lord Jesus. It’s worth it and we’re much
less boring people with whom to interact.
No comments:
Post a Comment