At the beach

Friends and relatives who have been to Disney World or the original Disneyland all tell me the same thing; the theme park was great, but their kids preferred the beach.

The park offered fun at every turn--the food, the shows, the street spectacles, the rides--all were meant for enjoyment and entertainment.

A time for solitude and reflection at the beach

But the next day, when everyone was tired, they all opted for a quiet time at the beach. The children felt the sand squish between their toes as warm foam swirled around their legs. They listened to the beckoning sounds of the pounding surf, and stared into the clear tidal pools filled with creatures. They made elaborate sand castles and warmed their backs in the sun.

Somehow, a man dressed in a static Mickey Mouse head just didn't compete.

And this is what the American church experience has been for me for several years now.

I've been to a lot of churches--In fact, I was saved in Sunday School. I have attended churches that felt like the Matterhorn bobsled ride at Disneyland--full of wait and boredom, with a promise of something exciting in the future, but without its fulfillment in the here and now. 

I've also been to "amusement park" churches (A.W. Tozer calls this "Golden calf" Christianity). Like one immense pep-rally, participants sing songs about reaching the lost in the wide, wide world, and about the nations, and about all kinds of corporate things we all should be doing. At one service they even turned off the lights and handed out glow sticks so that everyone could wave them around--it was fun, I have to admit--sort of like a rock concert without the drugs and alcohol. 

Author Sherry Hayes

But it wasn't real, anymore than the Mickey Mouse caricature who goes around shaking hands with the park visitors. I have been to so many of these and come away feeling empty--a sense that what goes on there just doesn't jive with the rich relationship I experience daily with my Lord. 

At one church service a man stood up and boldly proclaimed that the only reason any of us were alive was to proclaim the Gospel. He was only a babe in Christ, and some misguided souls quickly had him convinced that personal holiness meant to be lived and walked out in our daily life had no applicable meaning in the "real" world. Within two years he and almost all of the leadership of that church had become involved in several adulterous relationships--what weeping and sadness had been caused by the unbalanced attempt of some to fill up the chairs on Sunday.

But I don't buy it--I don't want to have an amusement-park life.

I prefer the beach.

Here at home, in my everyday life, I experience more of Jesus, and more of the power of His Holy Spirit, than at any hyped-up service I have ever attended.

Olivia and Faith alone, in their quiet discoveries

It's taken years to really understand what I have now come to know--the truly rich life is the quietly private, and set apart one. It's like staring out my back window at the clouds above the prairie or while walking in a nearby nature park and pouring my whole heart out to Him (the Lover of my soul). It is opening a hymn book and singing aloud with my children. How many times have I felt as though I had glimpsed a little corner of Heaven.

Sometimes it's when I'm cooking a pot of spaghetti, or even folding clothes in the wee hours of the morning following a bout of insomnia that He meets with me. How precious these intimate times are! Frequently it's when we are gathered as a family, praying and reading the Word together, that He speaks to me. I hear His thoughts echoed in the prayers of my sweet innocent children--that is when I know He is visiting with us.

When I am being filled with His Spirit in this way, it's not hard to share with those around me. I don't have to gather around with a group and hand out leaflets, I just stay open to His leading, and doors open up in the grocery line, or at the bank.

Fellowship happens with anyone who is willing--at any time. I have friends and relatives with whom I can share these joys, and they rejoice with me. We bolster each other up and pray for each other--this is the gathering together that truly builds and edifies.

I am so grieved by our sad state here in America. I remember hearing of contrite Chinese believers who leave the floor wet with tears of repentance when they gather together to seek God's face. I heard they are amazed at what we seem to have accomplished without the leading or power of God's Holy Spirit.

But there is a remnant--I hear it in the comments of many of you who read here--and I see it elsewhere in the uncharted regions of Christianity. God is calling His beloved ones out, those who have been treated like paupers, and even losers by the relevant and popular ministries of today because they dare to live counter-cultural lives.

I know how lonely it can seem. I know how many times we may question ourselves and field the inquiries of others who don't really understand. However compromise is not an option. And when we find that we are the loneliest, we have a special portion from Him reserved for those times when we feel forsaken--how precious!

And yet, I am not by myself--many others have walked here before me. 

Remember you are not alone--He sees you.

What will you do with Jesus?

Joseph, baby Jesus and Mary in the manger

It is perfectly acceptable to speak of Him as a sweet babe. We wrap Him in swaddling clothes and lay Him in a manger; we even cover Him with light and give Him a radiant halo.

But He is all grown up. He is no longer swathed in cherubic sweetness. He was a man--better than that He said he was the Savior--the Lord--the Son of God--what then, will we do with Him?

We can call Him a great teacher--but His lessons are too harsh. His message was about dying in order to live, and losing in order to gain. He traveled throughout Israel like a common transient--He gleaned His food from the fields and slept with only a rock as His pillow. He gave until His skin was bruised and torn and His life's blood flowed. 

Though he was God, yet He was not His own Boss. He laid down His own will and took up His Father's. He fully submitted to God, "Not my will, but Thine", and in the surrender of His life He demonstrated to us the way to life. He is not the fulfiller of dreams, He is the Dream. 

"Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man comes to the Father, but by me." (John 14:6)

We can call Him a Prophet--because He spoke the words of God. But He was God, and He was the Word.

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not." (John 1:1-5)

We want to include Him in a group of all sorts of good, spiritual men, but He will not fit. He was not good, He was Goodness. He was not spiritual, He was the Son of God, the very God Himself in the flesh. There is nothing spiritual besides Him, and all attempts to glory in any other is vain.

We cannot have Jesus and...

Savior and Lord of all!

...Jesus must stand on His own. Yes, He was a lamb led to the slaughter, yet God declares Him the Lion of Judah. He comforts and loves all who are His own; He died that all might live, but it is a "free-will" choice--to choose Him--to choose life. Each of us must decide for ourselves, because if we are not for Him, we are against Him.  

Someday, when the tombs of all the other "gods", prophets, and kings are swept away into forgetfulness, Jesus will take His place as the King of kings and Lord of lords.

Will we be able to claim Him as our Treasure, our One Desire, our God and King, or will we be smitten to the ground, fearful of our fate before His Holy Majesty?

What will you do with Jesus?

Article written by Sherry K. Hayes