Working on that Relationship with God -- by becoming a better person!

The biggest enemy to the Christian witness is Christian behavior. If only the world could say -- look at how much they love each other! We sing, "They'll Know We Are Christians by Our Love," and then stab each other in the back. We call people we disagree with heretics or worse. Then, we go to work on our relationship with God, which usually means working on our piety -- a bit of prayer and a bit of Bible reading.

I read this afternoon a posting by Richard Beck, a psychology professor at Church of Christ related Abilene Christian University. I appreciate Richard for his insights into the Christian psyche. His posting is entitled: "The Bait and Switch of Contemporary Christianity." He tells the story of a conversation with a student who told him she wanted to work on her relationship with God. He asked her why she wanted to do this, a question that stunned her. But the point he wanted to make with his follow up questions had to do with her relationships with other people. Did she have relationships needing to be taken care of.

Richard goes on to write:

Obviously, I was being a bit provocative with the student. And I did go on to clarify. But I was trying to push back on a strain of Christianity I see in both my students and the larger Christian culture. Specifically, when the student said "I need to work on my relationship with God" I knew exactly what she meant. It meant praying more, getting up early to study the bible, start going back to church. Things along those lines. The goal of these activities was to get "closer" to God. To "waste time with Jesus." Of course, please hear me on this point, nothing is wrong with those activities. Personal acts of piety and devotion are vital to a vibrant spiritual life and continued spiritual formation. But all too often "working on my relationship with God" has almost nothing to do with trying to become a more decent human being.


To give further definition he notes that there's no more abysmal example of Christian behavior than the Sunday Lunch crowd. This group is often demanding, demeaning, and cheap, which leads restaurant workers not wanting the Sunday shift. But, just think, he writes, what if they looked forward to the Sunday Lunch shift?

My point in all this is that contemporary Christianity has lost its way. Christians don't wake up every morning thinking about how to become a more decent human being. Instead, they wake up trying to "work on their relationship with God" which very often has nothing to do with treating people better. How could such a confusion have occurred? How did we end up going so wrong? I'm sure there are lots of answers, but at the end of the day we need to face up to our collective failure. I'm not saying we need to do anything dramatic. A baby step would do to start. Waking up trying to be a little more kind, more generous, more interruptible, more forgiving, more humble, more civil, more tolerant. Do these things and prayer and worship will come alongside to support us.


So, maybe the key to becoming closer to God is to become a better person? I mean, is that old bumper sticker -- Christians aren't perfect, just forgiven -- an excuse for bad behavior? I wonder if we've not been offering a bit of a bait and switch. That's not to say that we shouldn't pray or worship or study the bible, but if our lives are full of deceit, anger, and malice, then maybe we've missed something!

Thanks Richard for this reminder.

Comments

John said…
Doesn't it come down to bearing fruit? If we are successful in improving our relationship with God will our lives not reflect this in the way interact with others? If we are closer to God, will we not treat others - family, friends, strangers, and enemies - with the love and compassion of Christ? Will we not become more compassionate and more loving?

"If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing."

To work on your relationship with God and yet fail to act with a loving spirit, constitutes and utter failure to accomplish your purpose.

Genuine faith will produce genuine fruit.

John
John said…
Then there is John13:34-34: "I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."

John
Robert Cornwall said…
I think that's Richard's point. Too often we think that spending more time in prayer is sufficient, when maybe if we work on our relationships with each other we will grow closer to God -- who is present in God's people!
Anonymous said…
Hey, you can sing. A cappella even! Very impressed- with the message too. We didn’t applaud, only because we were shocked I guess.

Anyway, if we judge our own fruits (love) as lacking in some way, maybe we need to find some more love- of ourselves. God will magnify his example to us if we promise to share. Okay, I'm guessing but am willing to experiment further. That's faith to me.
David Mc
Robert Cornwall said…
David, everyone once in a while I figure I have to sing it!

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