I'm a Christian...and that comes first...

Yesterday, Rodney Plunket really spoke to my heart.  He has often done this, but in his sermon, he was exploring the implications of 1 John 4:1-6 on us as believers.  The text explores the Spirit of truth that God has poured out on Christians and asks us to test the spirits.  While this can be seen as a daunting task, the text reassures us by reminding us that " Little children, you are from God, and have conquered them; for the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world." (4:4)  Yet, to say that we as Christians are not influenced by the "spirits" of our culture and the expected positions of our time is of course short-sited.  Taking a stand for something good can sometimes lead us down a road we never intended to drive.  Rodney shared with us some personal reflections, and I asked permission to repost them on this blog so that I might revisit these reflections from time to time, and so that you might also have access to them.  One time through these thoughts is not enough to really soak them in, so I pray that each of you, if you call yourself Christian, will revisit these words and allow them to take root in all of us... 

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Which spirit is operative within me? Am I living out the confession?

1. Am I adhering to the convictions pressed upon me by Scripture, or am I adhering to traditions that get in the way of the vision presented in Scripture? I know it’s easy to become wedded to obstructive traditions because Jesus condemns the highly religious Jews of His day for doing just that.

2. Am I allowing the pressure of the world (in my case, America) to cause me to back away from what I have inherited in Scripture? “The American dream” can cause me to embrace materialism instead of the Bible’s consistent emphasis on helping the poor. America’s current attitudes toward sexuality can cause me to move away from the Bible’s teachings about sexual purity. I can be more American than Christian, more Republican than Christian, more Democrat than Christian, more a political independent than a Christian, more capitalistic than Christian, more individualistic than Christian, more liberal than Christian, more conservative than Christian, more political than Christian, more anti-political than Christian, more sophisticated than Christian, more clever than Christian, more intellectual than Christian, more anti-intellectual than Christian, more current than Christian, more popular than Christian, more successful than Christian, more a victim than a Christian, more satisfied than Christian, more counter-cultural than Christian, more culturally engaged than Christian, more opinionated than Christian, more tolerant than Christian, more intolerant than Christian, more judgmental than Christian, more connected than Christian, more disconnected than Christian, more tech savvy than Christian, more anti-tech than Christian, more patriotic than Christian, more anti-patriotic than Christian, more hawkish than Christian, more dovish than Christian, more angry than Christian, more satisfied than Christian, more destructive than Christian, more benign than Christian, more spiritual than Christian, more religious than Christian, more institutional than Christian, more anti-institutional than Christian; and I can be more shaped by cultural icons than by Christ.

3. I think the pressures are strong that push me to tie to some cause or stance in American national life that I see embodying some scriptural truth and for that cause, including the elements that do not embody scriptural truth, to more define who I am than the confession, “Jesus Christ has come in the flesh.” When others who know me would describe my purpose through the use of contemporary American labels, I might not be living with the “Jesus confession” truly functioning as my reason for living. I must focus on following the Spirit of Truth. I must test the spirits that draw me, that influence me. I must reject the spirit of error. I know I can, because I have conquered by God’s power through the work of Jesus Christ. I know I can reject the spirit of error because “the one who is in [me] is greater than the one who is in the world.”