Bryleigh Sage Walker
September 1, 2010
7 lbs 6 oz, 19 inches
perfect!

One statement which has not particularly made me cringe but has had me really searching and thinking lately is the idea of “being challenged”.

We like to say there are churches we don’t go to because we aren’t challenged.

We go to churches because we are challenged.

We want to listen to podcasts from speakers who challenge us and avoid books by authors who don’t challenge us.

We say that we want to be challenged, but that is not true.

We say we want to go to places and people who can challenge us, but we lie.

Granted, we lie because we have re-defined (falsely) what “challenge” actually means. When we say want to be challenged, we mean we want someone to blow our minds. We want someone to communicate something in a way we have never thought about it before. We want to think of things more loftily than we had before.

We want to read books that really make us think, and in so doing, make us learn a lot.

We want these things, and we call it challenge, but we have misunderstood and forgotten the primary element to challenge.

Action!
Movement!
Application!

Challenge is a call to engage and change.

We do not want to be challenged. We want to learn more, maybe. We want to know more information, perhaps. We want to answer more questions correctly than someone else, probably.

But very few really want to be challenged, because being challenged means being called to engage and change. Very few of us want to change anything as most of us are too comfortable to engage.

Challenge has to do with whether or not you want to engage something enough to enact change in the way you live, act, or do. Challenge has to do with whether or not what you are reading, hearing, studying, or interacting with engages you to act.

Will my life be different? Will I live differently or am I just waiting for you to blow my mind?

Do I really want to be challenged, or do I really want to know more information than you?

I think of books we commonly call ‘challenging’ by guys like C.S. Lewis, NT Wright, Bonhoeffer, and I wonder if any of them, as brilliant as they may be, actually engaged me enough to change, act, and live differently.

I think of books by people like Shane Claiborne, SD Gordon, and Francis Chan; books I could read in a day or two but I was engaged to see choices I needed to make to really be more like Jesus.

I think of podcasts I’ve listened to that I once thought were great challenging sermons, but I cannot remember many that really rocked my life in a way which made me say, “I need to change some things.”

The most challenging speakers, writers, and pastors are not necessarily the most profound.

This is because it is not their role to be challenging. It is not up to THEM for YOU to be challenged.

Being challenged is up to YOU! When presented with something, no matter how simple the presentation, its up to YOU to determine whether you will engage and change.

I once preached a sermon in a series about the various distorted images we have of God. It was intended to recognize the images we have of God that we create out of our experiences, relationships, and circumstances instead of the true images of God we see in Scripture. Once you recognize them, you can replace them with truth.

This particular night I was revealing the distorted image of the ‘disinterested God’. We took a look at those distortions that make us doubt God, in his immense realities, could actually be interested in me personally, intimately, and truthfully.

We looked at the true image of God who knows me far more than I could imagine. This is a God who is Immanuel, God with us. This is the God who knows when I sit and when I rise. The true God is one who knows my deepest thoughts, desires, and imaginations. (Psalm 139)

At this point, a strong quote by Matthew Henry came to the forefront.

“Our thoughts are words to God.”

It was a beautiful answer to those of us who may struggle from time to time with a distorted image in our heart of a God who is aloof or disinterested in my tiny individual life. To someone who struggles to pray to an immense God, this quote soothes the soul a bit and frees the heart a lot more to rest in prayer.

On the way home, Tonya shared with me the shadow of the quote. She was challenged to recognize how scary it can be when we really think about the thoughts we commonly have. There are a lot of thoughts we have in the course of a day we certainly would not want God to hear or know.

If our thoughts are words to God, there is a risk to that, of course, but I would say with risks included, it STILL means our God is close. Even if it must include all our thoughts, it still means God is interested in you personally and intimately.

People Can’t Believe I Like:
So You Think You Can Dance
the color purple (not the movie)
cold and rainy weather
light roast coffees
working out (P90X…running…any exercise)
washing windows (and mirrors)
Erykah Badu, Regina Spektor, or Fiona Apple
peas
pedicures (don’t hate unless you’ve actually tried it)
volleyball (more recent friends are surprised by this, but certainly not old friends)

What are some things people are surprised to find out that you like?

Would I be CONTENT with these things? I am not wondering, as I normally do, whether or not I would accept these things, but would I really be CONTENT with them?

The true heart of reliance on God’s strength is far more than accepting these things, but is truly content in and through them.

“One log by itself
cannot burn for long,
but when many logs are put together,
even if they are poor logs,
they can make quite a fire.”

-Richard Foster

My heart is prayerful. Not exactly sure for what, but it is simply prayerful.
My heart is in need of focusing on my Lord, my Love, and my Wisdom.
My heart is focusing on spiritual business amidst the physical concerns.
My heart is choosing Christ over my circumstances.
My heart is focusing on faith rather than fear.
My heart is prayerful right now.
My heart is resting in my physical, emotional, and personal inability
so I can learn to trust in God’s capability.
My heart is prayerful right now.

Word has it “Amen” means “so be it”, and at this time, when I have nothing to ask nor am I seeking or hearing something I am to do, I am content at this moment in the reality my God is here, he is able, and his plan.will.happen.

And to THAT I say

Amen

“I believe in justice: but I am not a preacher of the gospel of justice, but the Gospel of Christ who calls us to justice.
I believe in love, but I am not a preacher of the gospel of love, but the Gospel of Christ who calls us to love.
I am committed to peace, but I am not a preacher of the gospel of peace, but the Gospel of Christ who calls us to peace.
I believe in the value of the simple life, but I am not the preacher of  the simple life, but of the Gospel of Christ who calls us to the simple life.

Let us beware of the ultimate plagiarism of borrowing some great concepts from Jesus then running off proclaiming these concepts and not sharing the Christ who embodies and empowers these concepts.”

- Myron Augsburger