{"id":1322,"date":"2016-05-25T19:07:31","date_gmt":"2016-05-25T23:07:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/anglicanconnection.com\/?p=1322"},"modified":"2016-05-25T19:11:07","modified_gmt":"2016-05-25T23:11:07","slug":"change-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/anglicanconnection.com\/change-2\/","title":{"rendered":"‘CHANGE’…"},"content":{"rendered":"

M<\/span>uch ink has been spilled in the writing of many books on why America is where it is today. According to a new book by Yuval Levin<\/a>,\u00a0The Fractured Republic<\/i>, reviewed by Martin Swain in\u00a0The\u00a0Wall Street Journal,<\/i>\u00a0yesterday (May 24), both sides of the political aisle consider the 1950s to be an ideal era \u2013 for some, because of high taxation; for others, because it was a time of free enterprise. Martin Swain comments that Levin sees a danger in \u2018looking backward\u2019.<\/span><\/p>\n

INDIVIDUALISM<\/h2>\n

\u2018The desire to recreate or return to mid-century\u2019s virtues has led us into a kind of ideological stalemate,\u2019 he says.\u00a0\u2018We now find ourselves in a culture of hyper-individualism which shows no signs of slowing\u2019.\u00a0<\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Swain notes: \u2018What he (Levin) calls for, in essence, is a return to the proximate. Americans must find ways to strengthen our mediating institutions that stand between the individual and government, and especially the national government \u2013 families, churches, civic organizations and so on\u2026 Many of our most acute problems have arisen because for over half a century we have nationalized every political question\u2026\u00a0The task is to denationalize our mindset.<\/b>\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

If this observation is correct, it is worth asking how this might apply to Christianity in America. There are many across the country who insist that \u2018religion is the problem\u2019.<\/span><\/p>\n

WHERE TO START<\/h2>\n

The Bible and the subsequent growth of Christianity tell us that the most effective way we can transform the \u2018mindset\u2019 about Christianity, is not to be afraid of starting small. Christianity began that way. Ask yourself:\u00a0\u2018How many do I know who have truly heard?\u2019<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

In 2 Corinthians 4:1-6,\u00a0Paul challenges the human inclination that says we come to know God through reason or mystical experience.<\/b>\u00a0Rather, he says,\u00a0we come to a faith that is awakened through hearing the gospel and by God working in our hearts.<\/b>\u00a0The faith<\/i>\u00a0the Bible teaches us is not concerned with\u00a0our<\/i>\u00a0search for God, but with\u00a0God\u2019s<\/i>\u00a0search for us. Christianity is a religion, not of works, but of God\u2019s grace.<\/span><\/p>\n

Paul points out that he is passionately committed to the work of communicating God\u2019s good news.\u00a0Despite the obstacles and disappointments, he says, \u2018We do not lose heart\u2019.<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

He gives us a helpful insight into why people refuse to listen.\u00a0It is because they have been\u00a0blinded by the god of this age<\/i>\u00a0<\/b>(4:4). While\u00a0the god of this age\u00a0<\/i>can refer to the powers of evil, it is more likely Paul is speaking of the idolatrous preoccupation with the material things of this world. Men and women lightly dismiss the reality and meaning of God\u2019s gospel because their eyes are so fixed on the present world that they are blind to the larger realities of existence and life.<\/span><\/p>\n

CHOICES AND CHANGE<\/h2>\n

Men and women remain unbelievers by choice.<\/b>\u00a0They have erected a spiritual barrier in their own soul. As we read in John\u2019s Gospel (1:9-10), \u2018the Light keeps blazing away for all to see, but men and women prefer to live in the darkness of their own point of view\u2019.<\/span><\/p>\n

How then does anyone come to believe?<\/b>\u00a0In 2 Corinthians 4:5-6 we read:\u00a0For we do not proclaim ourselves; we proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord and ourselves as your slaves for Jesus\u2019 sake. For it is the God who said, \u2018Let light shine out of darkness\u2019, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.<\/i><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2018It is not my gifts of preaching, my oratory, my charisma, my charm, that win men and women to faith\u2019, Paul is saying.\u00a0\u2018It is their face-to-face encounter with Jesus.<\/b>\u00a0I tell people who he is, what he has done, and why he has done it. And,\u2019 he says, \u2018as I do this, God by his Spirit takes the veil from their hearts and enables them to see the glory of God shining in the face of Jesus Christ\u2019.<\/span><\/p>\n

Most commentators understand Paul\u2019s imagery here to refer to Genesis 1:3. If so, it is a powerful metaphor. Paul is saying that turning from unbelief to belief involves an act of divine initiative as awesome and as powerful as the act of creation.\u00a0God says to our hearts, \u2018Let there be light\u2019 and there is light \u2013 and from that moment a new world begins.<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Many professing Christians have lost the passion to see lives change.<\/b>\u00a0Churches have too often become inward looking, with a focus on music, ceremony and art. There is a lack of trust in God\u2019s means of changing lives. Let me ask, \u2018When did you last pray for and ask someone to explore God\u2019s good news with you \u2013 perhaps by inviting them to a\u00a0Christianity Explored\u00a0<\/i>course?\u2019\u00a0<\/b>Out of small beginnings\u2026!<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\u00a9 John G. Mason<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

uch ink has been spilled in the writing of many books on why America is where it is today. According to a new book by Yuval Levin,\u00a0The Fractured Republic, reviewed by Martin Swain in\u00a0The\u00a0Wall Street Journal,\u00a0yesterday (May 24), both sides of the political aisle consider the 1950s to be an ideal era \u2013 for some, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1324,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1322","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-word-on-wednesday"],"yoast_head":"\n'CHANGE'... - The Anglican Connection<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Many professing Christians have lost the passion to see lives change. 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