Puritan thinker William Gurnall shares this insight:

“Joseph’s coat made him finder than his bretheren, but it caused all his trouble; so great gifts lift a saint up a litter higher in the eyes of men, but they occasion many trials, from which thou who are low are exempt.”

It sort or reminds me of Spiderman’s “With great power comes great responsibility”. Gurnall is right. There is an absolute correlation between the intensity of a person’s gifts and the trials they will face because of them. For example people with trucks are constantly asked to haul stuff around for those without them. Or people with huge amounts of money have to constantly consider the motives of those around them.

And in the spiritual economy it’s barely different. The man with an exceptional insight, or prophetic bent, will undoubtedly stir the pot and earn some resentment from those who oppose his opinions. Or the one gifted as an evangelist will eventually have to flee for his life for exercising that gift.

I remember, as a new Christian feeling envious of those that I felt had greater spiritual gifts. Gurnall’s sentiment goes a long way to remind us that our gifts are tailored to each of us. Everyone’s gift comes at a cost and God has been deliberate to give each of us gifts of which we are able to carry the cost.

In circles of people with extremely charismatic language, I often hear people say things things like, “The Lord is telling me…” or “I feel like the Lord is saying…”. Whether I agree with that or not is not so much in discussion right now. But what is actually said is.

Before Jesus’ death, he told his disciples that his death was necessary that the Holy Spirit would come. He explained the Spirit’s function in John 16:14:

“When the Spirit of truth comes…[v14] He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you.”

When the Spirit of God speaks to us, it is about Jesus; of Jesus. It is about God’s Word. The Spirit will not speak to us about things that aren’t taught to us from God’s word. This is why the Puritans understood that the modern gift of prophecy is when a person, usually a teacher, is given insight and understanding of God’s word.

You might not agree with that last paragraph, and that’s alright.

What bothers me is when people use the concept of the Spirit’s speaking to a believer as a means to make a point, or convince hearers of their opinions or personal beliefs.

For example, If you’ve dated within the Church, you’ve probably heard something like, “God is telling me I need to be single.” Or maybe you’ve just heard of people saying that kind of thing. In charismatic worship settings (which I tend to enjoy, by the way), you might’ve heard someone say something like, “The Spirit is telling us we need to lift our hands,” or “The Spirit wants us repent of [fill in the blank].”

I strongly believe this language is an abuse of the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. Well, at least about 90% of the time anyway.

When the Spirit speaks, it is to glorify Jesus—namely in the Word of God. It is more sound to say, “God’s Word says [fill in the blank]—I believe we are guilty of this, and should repent.” If this message is truly from the Spirit, this language will still cut people’s conscience and lead to repentance. And if it doesn’t, either people’s hearts are hard or else the Spirit wasn’t highlighting that issue in specific.

Or, perhaps, “I have been reading the word of God and praying and I feel that I need to be single for some time.”

When the Spirit speaks, it is from God’s word, which is about Jesus, of Jesus. And the language chosen is important. There are at least two major dangers in speaking with this kind of hyper-spiritual language.

1. Human beings are a complicated mess of flesh and emotion and ideas. Unless the the word being spoken can be thoroughly confirmed by God’s written word, it can only truly be spoken with some marginal level of confidence. Anything more than that is probably a confidence conjured from elsewhere inside us. Speaking with such presumption is clearly dangerous. Prophets of the old testament who prophesy falsely were to be put to death. That’s not the case today, but the principal stands. Speaking for God when God may not be speaking is big deal.

2. Human beings are also rational, intellectual creatures. These are gifts given to us by God. And, we have a thorough and complete written Word from God. When language such as “God is saying…” is used, it effectively closes the door to disagreement and rational discussion. It makes it impossible for “iron to sharpen iron”.

It is wisdom that we would use our language carefully when talking about the Spirit’s speaking to us and to our congregation. When the Spirit speaks, he is teaching what he has already said in God’s Word to the church.

We should be so hasty as to assume the Spirit is saying what we might think he’s saying but be confident that if he is speaking, it will be heard even if we don’t use such confident language.

If you read my blog, even on a semi-regular basis, you know I’ve gone on rants about this before. I’ll probably end up repeating myself here too. But in the discussion about things that have been stupidly Christianized, it would be a travesty to leave out this moronic nugget of our church culture.

Retail Stores

Shortly after becoming a Christian, I took a job at a local Christian bookshop. It was among the most defining times as a Christian thus far. Day in, day out, I became well acquainted with the types of inventories that came in. I even got to know some of the distributor’s sales people in the process. What I learned wasn’t pretty.

Much like the Christian music industry, Christian retailers (the truly corporate ones, anyway) create a false sense of security in their patrons minds. It’s the sense that the inventory is ‘safe’. That somehow, the products that are carried have an intrinsic spiritually enriching quality to them. In fact, from a purely business standpoint, it’s quite a brilliant scheme.

However, the reality is, the business isn’t too unlike any other retail store. They stock what will sell… to Christians. And, unfortunately, since the majority of Christians are poorly versed in basic theology, what will sell is pretty much anything with a bible verse printed on it.

Bibles

Most of the Christian retails shops I’ve been in have carefully nestled the bible selection, (which isn’t even much more extensive than what you’ll find at Borders), in the back of the store. Forcing customers to walk past a great deal of impulse buy items. Things virtually no one needs and, in fact, would probably be better off without. As an employee, I can attest that these items sell a lot more frequently than you’d think.

When you finally do get to the Bibles, they’re usually 10-20% more than they are at secular retailers.

Then, there’s the bible covers. The selection is nearly as big as the bibles themselves. And so is the price. With the exception of a place to keep you pen, I still don’t see the value in these things. In fact, from my experience with people, Bible covers actually seem to inadvertently discourage the reading of the bible outside of formal settings—like bible study, or Sunday morning services. Of course, it’s not true for everyone. But it sure seems like there’s a correlation. Maybe not.

Greeting Cards

I don’t get this. The church should be about personal investment in each others lives. If I’m going to encourage a brother with something written, I’d want to write it myself. And if someone wanted to encourage me, I’d want it to come from them.

But the whole Christian greeting card thing seems to be exactly the opposite concept. Rather than Christians being moved by scripture that comes about in their private meditation, and passing those encouraging words on to brothers and sisters, the burden is passed onto the greeting card publishers. Little fortune-cookie bits of scripture, mass printed onto little 4×6 inch cards to cover a variety of situations.

People barely have to think about God’s word and barely have to think about each other. Just grab a card and pay (too much) for it.

Self-Help & Leadership

Bigger than even the Bible commentary selection is usually the self help and/or leadership section. Make no mistakes. I’m not mislabeling these books. They really are self-help books. Weigh loss, confidence, organization, parenting. They’re all there. Most of us would have difficulty picking these out as ‘Christian’ resources if it weren’t for the cover and an (out-of-context) bible verse or two.

Leadership is another big deal. And not just church leadership either. All kinds of leadership. I remember reading one of these books as part of a church internship I did years ago. Let me tell you, there was virtually nothing of any real spiritual value in there. Flipping through quite a lot of those books during my stay at the Christian bookshop I feel fairly confident in my assertion that this isn’t uncommon.

In fact, the methods of leadership they promote, I think, are methods that are pretty much absent from scripture. Instead, I think these methods tend to build rigid hierarchies among brothers and sisters, which ultimately stunts spiritual growth and bolsters pride in the ‘leaders’ exercising them.

Knick-knacks & Gifts

Gum. Candy. Stuffed animals. Soap. Plaques. Paintings. “Artwork”. Figurines. Lotions. The list could go on.

Most of this is the epitome of junk. Things that will inevitably end up in the attic or at the thrift store. Occasionally, the plaques may have something truly inspirational on them. But most of them are out of context or borderline arrogant to place on your wall.

Is gum or candy with a a bible verse on it really better in some way than snickers or skittles? And, is it really worth spending, literally, three times as much on? No of course not. Especially since most of these don’t even seem to support any kind of worthy organization.

The children’s toys are borderline offensive, too. I remember receiving a huge shipment of stuffed animals—lambs. They were bright white and super soft. They each had a little heart on them reading “God’s Little Lamb”. You might say, “Now wait a minute, that’s perfectly biblical”. Yeah, except for how damn cute they were. The biblical imagery of God’s Lamb is a grotesque and painful one. It’s a reminder that we are sinful to our core and that we are covered in that lambs blood.

In fact, I think the only real value in this type of thing is during the holidays, when people may wish to decorate their home. These are the only place you can usually find strongly religiously oriented decorations. But even these are often misguided.

In Conclusion

I strongly believe these stores do harm to the church. Whether it be in reinforcing negative stereotypes about the church, or by numbing our spiritual senses, allowing a corporate entity to do the thinking for us.

There are alternatives to Christian retailers. Borders and Barnes & Noble stores generally carry most of the same literature—often times for cheaper. But even better than that, Amazon.com’s used marketplace is safe and usually has a selection of just about everything their Christian counterparts do, usually for a fraction of the cost. (For example, I purchased John Piper’s Desiring God used from Amazon for 1/4th the cost of buying it from the local Christian retailer—even with shipping).

Some may object on the grounds that the markup on Christian material is routed to various ministries. This is usually just not true. Especially considering Zondervan is the maker of a huge amount of Christian merchandise. And Zondervan is absolutely a for-profit organization.

So, my advice, avoid Christian retailers as much as possible. Save money by buying online and set the extra cash aside and give it to your local church, missionaries or organizations you feel compelled to support.

But whatever you do, just don’t get sucked into this monster.

C.S. Lewis’ Perelandre is (as would be expected) full of insights. As I read today, two main characters shared a dialogue about desires and their fulfillment or unfulfillment.

It would seem that in any situation in which something is to be received, whether food, or good fortune, or prosperity, or relationships, we have some concept in our minds already as to what outcome we wish to experience—at least on a subconscious level. When we receive what we had not expected, what we do receive becomes bitter. Even if the thing itself is sweet.

As adopted children of God, every gift we are given is from him and is good in its own right. And, coming from him will lead only to our pleasure in him. Yet, when we establish our desires quietly in our minds, we make the gifts we do receive (should they differ from our expectations) seem like rubbish when they’re given.

I can’t help but wonder if this is, at least partially, what Paul had in mind when he wrote to the church at Philippi. Philippians 4:11-13:

“Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.”

Perhaps it is that Paul realized that forming his own desires only serves to spoil the gifts he is given—whether they are in abundance or modesty. And instead, saw that to look only to Christ will give him satisfaction in whatever the Lord sees fit to give.

What a challenge it is to desire nothing but the Lord—but what a reward it must be!

Being that I finished reading The Prodigal God tonight, I thought that I was going to use today’s post to share my impression of the book. But, in the final pages of the book, I was struck by a quotation from C.S. Lewis that holds some really thought provoking ideas. I will save you the whole text and just paraphrase instead–just know that it’s worth reading for yourself.

in a quotation from C.S. Lewis’ The Four Loves. Lewis is talking about his friendship with Tolkein and Charles Williams. When Williams died, Lewis wrote this about their small community’s friendship:

“Now that Charles is dead, I shall never again see Ronald’s [Tolkien's] reaction to specifically Charles joke. Far from having more of Ronald “to myself” now that Charles is away, I have less of Ronald.”

Lewis has brought up a shocking point. Community has a distinct way of revealing people to itself. Lewis is saying that although he now has more of Tolkien’s time and attention, he actually has less of him in that he cannot see his interaction and affection for Williams. This is the affect that community has, not only to reveal itself, but more importantly to reveal God.

In God’s body there are different members, with different functions. In a body that is distinctly lacking in certain types of gifts, it’s common to find people with a slightly (or dramatically) skewed view of God–God is mostly love. Or mostly power. But in a community that has a more full gamut of gifts, the balance in people’s perception seems much healthier. This appears to be clearly the part of the design in community. Not only does community enjoy itself more because of itself, but the presence of community actually increases perception and ability to relate to God.

Lewis concludes with this thought:

“[This is why], says an old author, [that] the Seraphim in Isaiah’s vision are crying “Holy, Holy, Holy” to one another (Isaiah 6:3). The more we thus share the Heavenly Bread between us, the more we shall have.”

To pursue God in community, increases God in community. Even with less time in community and more time alone “with” God, we may in fact receive less of God. That’s pretty awesome. Fresh light on a well worn doctrine.

            Don’t worry, I won’t bore you with twelve full posts about Christmas; in fact this is probably the last one for another 364-ish days.

            As I shared a few days ago, gift giving is not a huge deal in my family. We select names out of a hat and buy gifts only for the person whose name we drew. When buying for that person there is a fifty dollar limit that cannot be exceeded (at least not without getting a bunch of grief from the family). This year, I selected my mother and my father selected me. Here’s a run down, for all of your anxious to know what I got:

1.) Badly needed camera bag, large enough to hold my gear and comfortable enough to wear on my back for an extended period of time.

2.) Small square table to set next to my chair so that I can read and drink coffee/tea more comfortably.

(What can I say, I really like reading)

3.) Citrus zester; Santa overheard me complaining about using a cheese grater to zest a lemon the other day.

4.) A replacement lens cap for one of my poor lenses who’s UV filter is taking a heck of a beating.

            So this Christmas, I got pretty much everything I needed and asked for and abundantly more than I deserved when I consider the Life that we celebrate on this day.