I love Sundays! Being with people who love Christ and are coming together to worship Him and learn together excites me. Unfortunately, today I'm feeling overwhelmed by my to-do list that I'm slipping back into my office during the services to get work done instead of doing my usual Sunday routine.As I was working through my email inbox just moments ago, one newsletter had a link to an article I felt I should read as a pastor to young adults. Once on the website, I saw an advertisement at the top of the page that said "Know God better in just 5 minutes a day!"
This ad really bothered me. Let me paraphrase how I interpreted that marketing statement:
"Get to know the most amazing God, who created the entire universe and you, who is all-knowledgeable, all-powerful, all-loving, all-wise, all-just, and all-present by personally sacrificng the minimum amount of time possible."
Now, if somebody hasn't been praying regularly or reading Scripture on a regular basis, then 5 minutes is a great start. I just heard a talk not to long ago by Rob Bell (entitled "Money Sunday - A Theology of Clicks") about "moving to the next click". Going from no time with God to 5 minutes is a move to the next click in the right direction.
But too many Christians stay there. They do their 5 minutes, call it their quiet time, and proceed with the rest of their day. That minimum standard eventually becomes their maximum.
I like how Erwin McManus puts it in his book An Unstoppable Force. He calls for Christians to a new Radical Minimum Standard (see Chapter 10, the Epilogue). This is not a call to a legalistic standard, but an invitation to freedom. As Erwin puts it:
"When we are afraid that the minimum is an unreasonable maximum, we limit the Spirit of Christ from working in the hearts of those who genuinely desire to be used by Him."
Is the Spirit of Christ calling you to allow yourself to be used by Him? If so, is it possible that you have adopted a maximum in your life that should really become your minimum standard?
I encourage young adult followers of Christ reading this adopt a new minimum standard, to not make Sunday attendance their maximum, but a minimum. To not make praying 5 minutes a day a maximum, but rather a great starting point. To not make an obligatory monetary gift a maximum, but to discover the minimum of generous and cheerful giving. To not allow "Christian" influences keep you at a legalistic maximum, but to be unleashed by God's Spirit into the life that goes beyond the new minimum standard.
1 comment:
Hey Erin,
I've been trying to talk to my kids about this concept lately, and I'm glad to see your post. It may help me clarify what it is I'm trying to articulate to them.
We've been telling our kids that the "rules" we set in our home aren't these lofty, unattainable things, but are more like "directions." We don't ask them to long jump 40 feet, knowing that they'll never be able to; rather, we set up arrows that point them in the right directions, and then we tell them that as long as they go that way, they can run wild!
I've been trying to put this into kid-sized ideas, but so far it's hard to help them understand. For example, I've told them that obedience is like a door: if we told them that they could play over at a friend's house, but they needed to play inside the house, then they would only be obedient if they go through that front door. But once they cross the threshhold of that door and are inside the house, they have a whole world of creativity and joy available. Obedience makes that creativity and joy possible - real creativity and joy simply cannot exist without obedience.
I really hope I can clarify this for my kids, and that God will get the attention of their hearts fixed on this idea.
On a different note, this whole conversation about whether we should have minimums or maximums reminds me of something else I heard Erwin McManus say once. It went something like this:
The 10 commandments are not some high, unattainable goal. God didn't set the bar so high that we cannot possibly reach it. He set the bar on the ground, and we trip over it, or try to crawl under it. Think about it ... "could you guys try not to kill each other, maybe?" ... "could you not take his stuff away from him?" ... "when he gets home, could his wife, um, still be his?"
Erwin goes on to explain that these are not the rules of unattainable righteousness, but the bare minimums for being human.
Here's to a life of blowing past the minimum requirements. Thanks for the encouragement along the way. I enjoy reading your blog!
-Chris
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