The Compelling Case for Spiritual Giants: Thanks-Full-Ness

I’ve been “blogging out loud” about my gut sense that the world desperately needs Spiritual Giants; Spiritual Redwoods; people of deep faith.  Many individuals know that their lives lack meaning and depth. The deep-seated hunger for God, created in them by their Creator, consciously or not-so-consciously, has them on the look out for something of depth to meet that hunger.  What they are tired of seeing is shallow faith—faith lived on the shores of the ocean rather than in its depths. 

With so many “faith” options now available, people are looking for the real thing—and that will show itself in a faith that’s lived.

In a previous post I suggested that the first characteristic of people of deep faith is that they know their Subject.  People of deep faith never stop diving into the depths of God and his grace.  They know the stories of the Bible.  They know Jesus with head and heart.  And they live accordingly.

Another characteristic of deep faith is Thankfulness.  Spiritual Redwoods live in the constant awareness of God’s grace and blessings.  As Paul writes, they give thanks in everything (1 Thess. 5:18), not for everything, but in everything.  We all experience things in life for which we can’t possibly give thanks—nor should we.  But we can still give thanks because the God of the Cross is in the midst of them.  He has not abandoned us.  Rather than focusing on what we don’t have or the awful stuff of life, Spiritual Giants keep their hearts centered on God and God’s grace.

Another word for Thankfulness is Contentment.  Paul says it this way while sitting in a jail cell uncertain if he will live or die:

I have learned to be content with whatever I have.  I know what it is to have little, and I know what it is to have plenty.  In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being well-fed and of going hungry, of having plenty and  of being in need.  I can do all things through him who strengthens me.  (Philippians 4:11-13)

Paul discovered the secret to a deep life in faith: Trusting in a God who will care for him.  That trust leads to contentment which fuels thankfulness.

And thankfulness forges us into Spiritual Giants—people of depth.  People who, no matter how tough life is, follow the Crucified One with a heart of gratitude knowing that Jesus has been there before us.

How different that is from a culture that constantly bemoans what it doesn’t have, incessantly focuses on the new and the latest must-have, and lives in a constant restlessness and emptiness.

And how attractive a life of authentic gratitude looks when we see it.

The world is crying out for more Pauls, more Christ-followers, more people of deep, grateful faith. 

           

The Compelling Case for Spiritual Giants--Part 2

As I wrote last week: what the world desperately needs today are Spiritual Giants; Spiritual Redwoods; people of deep faith.  In part, they need people of spiritual depth because all too often life for many is lived on the surface.  Many nibble on life rather than feast on it.  So when life gets tough, nibblers have no substance to stand on.  That’s when they need in their lives people with some depth in their life-outlook.  They need someone who can bolster them from the depths of life.

I also think those outside of faith are tired of seeing so many people of shallow faith—judgmental faith, easy-answers faith, low commitment faith.  They reason, rightfully so, that if someone embraces a faith, that that faith ought to set the agenda for his/her life.  It ought to mean something meaningful.

In a consumer culture, where everything can be bought in a moments notice and tossed the next, where our self-worth is based on what we have and on getting the next thing (the latest I-phone or big screen TV or Coach purse or jeans or car or designer puppy, etc.), where everything is experienced in the shallows—including, too often, relationships—depth of faith becomes a surprisingly refreshing, liberating, transforming, eye-opening two by four to the head—an “I could have had a V-8” moment: This is what life looks like! 

My first foray into this topic last week generated some interesting responses from “I want to know more” to “what prompted you to write that?” to “what does it look like?” to “fascinating…what does it mean?”  To be honest, it started out as a gut instinct.  So over the next several weeks lets see where that instinct takes us by teasing out some “characteristics” of Spiritual Giants.

Paul writes in Colossians 2:6-7: As you have therefore received Christ Jesus, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.

Characteristic 1:  Spiritual Giants Know their Subject

The other day one of our kids at the Lake Pleasant Estates rattled off her knowledge about her favorite Boy Band: One Direction.  These are the stats she shared with me from their latest Take Me Home Tour:

·      They performed 134 shows in 20 countries

·      The shows were held in 68 cities

·      1,635,000 tickets were sold

·      7 babies were born while on tour

·      They utilized 86 crews

·      3,680 cups of Yorkshire tea were consumed

My point: Think about all of the stuff that we know—without really knowing anything useful!  Some of us are experts on the Kardashians.  Some of us know every NFL player backwards and forwards.  Some of us are so articulate in all things Shades of Grey that we can enter into the big debate on who should play the main characters.  Some of us are obsessed with our favorite celebrity.  Some of us with the news (from the left or from the right). 

We know a lot of stuff…and that stuff is neither good nor bad.  I’m the kind of person who thinks that any kind of learning is good as it exercises our brains (I’m proud to say, for example, that I know a lot about Victor Mature, BJ Thomas, and Barry Manilow and am pretty good at movie-focused trivia!).  

But, at the same time, all too often we fill our brains with empty calories.  We know stuff…but we really don’t know a lot of stuff steeped in substance.

When it comes to faith, many Christians sadly know about as much about their faith as non-Christians.  Many Christians are Biblically illiterate.  They’ve not read more than a few verses in the Bible.  They don’t know the great stories of the Bible.  They don’t know important “doctrinal” truths about Jesus or the Spirit.  Their life story doesn’t really connect with the Jesus story.  So we’re afraid to talk about our faith because we’re afraid we can’t answer the questions that may be asked.  Or when tough times happen, we get angry at God or fall away from God because we don’t really know the Subject of our faith; we have no substance to draw on.

Spiritual Giants are theologians.  Theo means God.  Theologians wrestle with the things of God.  That’s the call of every Christian.  To follow Jesus is to know him—to know the stories about him; to know what he’s passionate about; to know his heart. 

Like everything else we want to know more about, we have to spend time learning about him to know him.  This can’t happen in one hour a week (or, for most church-goers, in one hour once a month or twice a month). 

If our faith is going to be deep and transformative, we need to make the study of God a priority in our lives—to read the Bible every day (even the hard parts); to worship regularly; to take a class or seminar that helps us dig deeper. 

Think of it this way: Do you know as much about the God of your Faith as you do:

·      Politics?

·      Sports?

·      Hollywood?

·      The “characters” in your favorite “Reality TV” show?

·      Cars?

·      Sewing?

·      Painting?

·      Your career?

Again, there’s nothing wrong with knowing stuff about stuff, important stuff or even stuff that doesn’t really matter.  It can help us connect with life and expands our field of vision—even though that field of vision can, at times, be fairly shallow.  But life is lived in the depths.  And Spiritual Redwoods have roots that go down deep into the ground.  The deeper the roots, the more established the faith, the deeper the life.

No matter where we are in our spiritual journey, we can continue to live our lives in Jesus, growing through learning as much as we can about him.  Because ultimately Spiritual Redwoods never stop growing.  No matter how deep our roots go into the things of God, we’re never anywhere near the bottom.

And that depth will not only serve you well…it may very well transform the lives of those around you.