I can’t say that I’ve always had a problem with Pop culture. After all, I smoked cigarettes for years. But it was early in my adolescence that I began to want to go against the flow, to take the “path less trodden”, to question everything, and especially those things that others seemed to accept without question. When I finally got to the point of trusting no one and believing nothing I was told or taught, God made Himself real to me, and I was a changed man! I went from being a raving paranoid to being a raving Christian (which in this day and age might be considered the same thing).
But somehow through it all, I still suffer a deep aversion to all things Pop. I cringe when I see tattoos. I shudder every time I hear the word “literally”, or when people start their sentences with “So..”. I am memed, facebooked, and politically corrected to the point of nausea, and the church is not exempt from pop culture. I wince when I happen to spontaneously praise the Lord by saying “God is good!” and seemingly out of nowhere a chorus answers “All the time! And all the time God is good!”
There is, however, an example of pop church culture that I do somewhat buy into. Several years back someone coined a phrase about our faith that went pop but is true anyway, and it is that “Christianity is not a religion, it’s a relationship.” In truth, it’s both.
The Merriam Webster dictionary defines “religion” as
the service and worship of God or the supernatural
commitment or devotion to religious faith or observance
a personal set or institutionalized system of religious attitudes, beliefs, and practices
It defines “relationship” as:
an aspect or quality (such as resemblance) that connects two or more things or parts as being or belonging or working together or as being of the same kind
One might say like being from the same family
Both these definitions appropriately describe Christianity to a greater or lesser degree, although it has been my personal observation that the less intimate or genuine their “relationship” is, the more passionate people are in the defense of their “religion”. I also think that religion exists for the express purpose of helping people to maintain the intimacy of their relationship and not for the purpose of birthing them into the family. I remember one time hearing a church member complain that their pastor hadn’t God brought any lambs into the fold for a while. The person they were complaining to said, “shepherds don’t bear lambs, sheep bear lambs!” As I recall, the conversation ended right there.
There are some great rewards to being one of God’s lambs. King David had a good grasp of it when he wrote:
“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures:
He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life:
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”
Psalm 23:1-6
What a warm and generous relationship the Father is offering us. At the risk of igniting the popular chorus I just have to shout, “God is good!!!”
But the relationship is far from one way with God doing all the giving and us doing all the taking. It is also written in the Scriptures
Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. 2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. 3 And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.
1John 3:1,2
Even as the Lord chooses to become our Shepherd and Father, and to give us the opportunity and privilege of becoming His lambs and His sons and daughters, it lies with us as to whether or not we will accept and embrace His matchless gift. The quality of our relationship depends on us. We stand at the crossroads of a new year. 2020, like the rest of the past, is gone for good, never to return. What lies ahead?
What lies ahead for you? Could you possibly benefit from a shepherd who would lead you to safety and protect you from evil? Who will correct you when you begin to wander off toward danger and comfort you when you hurt? Do you need a parent who will love you, who is greater and bigger than we can even know? Who knows you best and still loves you the most.
This new year I challenge you to work on your relationship.
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