My 10 (minus one)

Last week I posted an article from the Huffington Post’s religion page. (10 Ways Christians Tend to Fail at Being Christian) The next day I reposted a comment I received and gave my opinion. That led to some discussion in the comments. If you have not read that exchange, you can read it here.

One particular comment inspired me (and is certainly in the running for a COTY Award for Best Comment.) Anonymous is right. I focus too much on whining and complaining about the Church (that’s the big ‘C’ church meaning the Christian Church as a whole). We all know that the institution of the church has issues. Some would say it’s broken. Those issues start at a personal level, and that is the only way to fix them. Personally.

So I’ll start with me. Here is the article you asked about Anon.

Let me preface this with some explication (I learned that one from Roger Olson). These are in no particular order. Some of them may sound redundant. I’m not one to proofread and edit. I like to keep the thoughts on ‘paper’ as the come out of my twisted brain. They seem a little more real that way. These are the areas of my life that need improvement.

For my non-Christian readers, this may be a little tedious. Will you do me a favor and read it any way? Please?

“10 Things I Fail At As a Christian”

1. I don’t pray enough. Truth is, I don’t pray that often. I have what I consider an ongoing ‘prayer’ conversation with God running in my head constantly. I will say a brief prayer for someone or something from time to time. But I don’t take time to push the world aside and dialogue with God.

2. Very closely related to #1: I don’t listen to God enough. Part of this is the lack of discipline in my prayer life. God speaks in other aspects of my life, though. Through the Bible. Through conversations with other people. Through sermons I hear. Through that “still, small voice.”

I don’t listen. Actually, I think I ignore. Honestly, it’s partly because I’m scared of what I might hear. Which leads to…

3. I lack the courage to follow through with God’s will. God does get through from time to time, despite my best efforts to ignore him. Sometimes I don’t like what I hear. Sometimes it’s something I don’t want to do. Maybe a life change I’m not ready for. Maybe it’s something I am completely unqualified to do.

4. I am not overt enough about my faith. I consider myself a pretty good person. I hope people notice that. I’m not sure anyone outside of my family knows, though, that it is because I am a Christian. I don’t talk about it. Granted, I’ve never been much for “witnessing,” but that doesn’t mean I can’t be more explicit about why I am who I am.

For example, I have 20-30 people reading this blog everyday. At least 25% of those are non-Christian. While I’m not clandestine about my faith, I don’t exactly use it as a sounding board. And I’m more blatantly Christian here than in person.

5. I am selfish. My first thought about almost anything is usually, “What’s in it for me?” This is my least attractive trait. It is also probably my most dominant trait. I do what I can to overcome it, but it often comes out despite my best efforts at suppression. The next two items stem directly from this flaw.

6. I don’t do enough for others. A few weeks ago I helped a single-mother from church move. That was the exception, not the rule. I pass up opportunities to help someone out almost daily. Probably on multiple occasions each day. My initial response is, as stated above, “What’s in it for me?”

7. I am not generous with what I have. Again, selfishness. I do not give money to charities (including special needs at church) as much as I should.

I listen to Andy Stanley’s sermons each week. Right now on the pod cast he is doing a series on “How to be rich” (which is actually a series from a couple of years ago.) His contention (and I agree) is that too often we focus on how to get rich, but we are rich (compared to the rest of the world). All of us. But we do not know how to be rich.

In this week’s podcast he talked about ways to know if your money controls you. He asked 4 questions. One of them especially stood out to me.

“Does fear of not having enough impede your amount of giving?” That one stings. A lot.

(You can download the entire sermon here. It’s a good one)

8. I am quick to judge others. I don’t like this one, but it’s true. Too conservative. Too liberal. Drinks too much. Lazy. Racist. Homophobe.

9. I struggle with sin. I guess I should say, “a particular sin.” It is the thorn in my side.

10. You know what, I can’t come up with #10. Maybe Dick Van Patten was wrong. Maybe 9 is enough.

Well, that’s step one. Step 2 is, “What am I going to do about it?” It does no good to identify my shortcomings if I’m not going to try to improve those areas. That just puts me back in the same “Here’s What’s Wrong With the Church” boat I was already in. So here’s step 2 for each of them:

1. This one seems easy. I need to take time each day to pray. I say it seems easy, because it will not be easy to make myself sit still in the quiet for any amount of time.

2. If I take care of #1 then #2 should follow closely. After I begin to listen, I need to stop ignoring what I hear.

3. Upon hearing and not ignoring, well then it’s time to do something. I have to get over my reservations. Which leads me to one of the stupidest things I ever said. (I didn’t make it up, which makes it one of the stupidest things I ever repeated.) “God doesn’t call the equipped. He equips the called.” Yeah, that should take care of feeling “completely unqualified.” I’ve really got to stop saying stuff like that.

4. This one, I’m sure about. I really think this is a personality trait. I’m a shy, reserved person. We introverts aren’t the best at sharing with other people. I guess I’ll use this forum. It’s much less intimidating.

5. I’ve got to stop looking out for myself first. Easy enough, right?

6. I just need to help people. When the previously mentioned single mother announced she was moving, I immediately said I would help. I need to react to need, and not think about what I should do. Or maybe just not think as much.

7. This one will be tough. I’ve got to learn to rely on God. I really can’t believe this has yet to sink into my thick skull. God has been more than gracious for years and years. We’ve responded to different needs here and there over the years and have not once gone without because of our giving. Trust.

8. I guess I’ll take Nike’s advice. Just do it. Or…Just don’t do it? Maybe I should start worrying about the logs in my own eyes. I’ve heard that somewhere.

9. I’ve got to get this log out of my eye. Oh wait; I used the thorn metaphor earlier. I’ve got to get this thorn out of my side.

There it is. It’s not rocket surgery. I have failed over and over to live up to my end of the covenant. Fortunately God is gracious and merciful. I will continue to depend on that grace as I strive to fix these failures.