Conclusion

How can truth be known absolutely? How can one make the statement “there is no absolute truth” without it being absolutely true? This is the paradox of modern and postmodern thought. Absolute truth is true absolutely, with no exceptions.

Can someone claim to know God and yet adhere to postmodern thought? The subjective truth of postmodernism makes this a difficult claim. If God can change, then what would He change to? He could either change to be better or worse. If God changes to something better, that would imply that he was not the best previously.[1] This goes against what is said in John 3:31 which states, “(t)he one who comes from above is above all; the one who is from the earth belongs to the earth, and speaks as one from the earth. The one who comes from heaven is above all.”

Furthermore, if God cannot change for the better, can He change for the worse? For God to be worse than what he is would imply imperfection or the presence of evil in a being who is wholly good. God does not change. Psalm 102:26-27 says, “They will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment. Like clothing you will change them and they will be discarded. But you remain the same, and your years will never end.”[2]

This unchanging God strikes at the heart of postmodernist thought. How can truth be subjective and malleable if the author of truth, the one who created truth, is not? The answer is that truth does not change, that God holds the absolute truth.

There exists in the world today a war between cultures. This war is not new as it has been raging since the fall of humanity in the Garden of Eden. However, today this war is everywhere, prompting McGough to comment, “(t)o keep up with the ‘culture wars’…one would have to be omniscient, omnipresent, and awake 24 hours a day.”[3] There are so many fronts in this war that one cannot hope to fight on them all.

It is important to take up this battle, but in order to fight it one must first grasp the theology of the Christian faith. Without this knowledge it will be impossible to counter the cultural arguments of those who hold to postmodernism. This doesn’t refer to scholarly knowledge, but to general knowledge. Christians must know why they believe what they believe. I John 3:18-20 says “Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.”

The second weapon in this fight is knowing what exists in the culture around us. “Those who do not know their opponent’s arguments do not completely understand their own.”[4] This is not to say that Christians should immerse themselves in the world’s culture. Christians are called to be in the world but not of the world. Romans 12:2 speaks, “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”

Third, when talking about “reaching” the lost in this culture, tactics must not take precedence over strategy. The church cannot focus on ways to bring the lost in to the church through worldly means. Christians must engage the worldview of a person with truth, or else the tactics will be seen as empty. Biblical truth contradicts cultural spirituality, “displaces it, refuses to allow its operating assumptions, declares it to bankruptcy.”[5]

Theology is crucial to the Christian walk. The church must not feel that they know something; they must think about it and know it. R.C. Sproul says, “(w)e live in a period that is allergic to rationality . . . (t)here is a difference between thinking and feeling.”[6] This battle is won by God, but the people of the church are the foot soldiers in the war. Christians must engage the culture without becoming enveloped by it. Knowledge of theology and the ability to apply it to the culture around us is a vital tool to reach the lost people of our contemporary society.

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[1] Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 1994), 168

[2] Ibid., 163

[3] McGough, A Field Guide to the Culture Wars, xiii

[4] Mitchell Young, Culture Wars (Farmington Hills, Michigan: Greehaven Press, 2008), back cover

[5] John Piper and Justin Taylor, The Supremacy of Christ in a Postmodern World (Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway Books, 2007), 38

[6] Sproul, Essential Truths of the Christian Faith, xvi

Current Worldviews

Studying Niebuhr’s types is important because it gives one a basic overview of how Christians react differently to the world around them. However, this only gives one a partial view of applying theology to culture. In addition to understanding how Christians respond one must also understand the issues that culture is facing. How does the culture think and what causes them to think that way?

There are a variety of worldviews that are present in this today’s society, but for the sake of focus and brevity, only two will be discussed. The most recent two large schools of thought have been modernism and postmodernism. Some argue that modernism has passed, supplanted by postmodernism. This view is even supported by the name “postmodernism” which literally means “after modernism.”

Modernism

First, what is modernism? Modernism rejected the certainty of Enlightenment thinking, along with the belief in a Creator. It saw society accelerating towards desctruction and meaninglessness, undermining much of the certainty in society.[1] This movement began the process of moving religion from part of everyday life to something more private, more out of public discussion.

The rejection of the supernatural caused people to look for scientific and rationalistic explanations for everything, though it held to the idea that one can know truth and that universal and absolute truth still existed.[2] However, the path for finding these truths moved from theology to the scientific method. Modernism gave rise to several different worldviews, including Darwinism, Marxism, fascism, socialism, communism, and theological liberalism.

Near the end of the 20^th century, modernism was on its way out, giving way to postmodernism. Most of the worldviews proposed by modernism had been found wanting and were discredited.[3]

Modernist Theology

Modernism affected theology as well. Some theologians who subscribed to modernistic theory began to view doctrine as secondary to culture. They sought to synthesize culture and doctrine together, believing that “doctrine was inherently divisive and a fragmented church would become irrelevant in the modern age.”[4] This gave way to a Christian pragmatism, allowing the results to justify whatever needed to be done. While the aim of the modernist theologians was to bring the church up to date with the culture, the movement opened the door to moral relativism and theological liberalism.

The modernist theology emphasized brotherhood and experience to the detriment of doctrinal differences, believing that doctrine should be “fluid and adaptable.” They wanted unity among the denominations and didn’t feel that theology was something worth fighting over. Many people during that time, including church leaders, ignored any kind of warnings about this kind of activity since it came from inside the church.[5]

Postmodernism

Postmodernism is defined as “any of a number of trends or movements in the arts and literature developing in the 1970s in reaction to or rejection of the dogma, principles, or practices of established modernism.”[6] Some view it as a replacement to modernism, while others state that it is an extension of modernism. Postmodernism differentiates itself from modernism by rejecting the idea that absolute truth exists or can be discovered. It represents a move from the rationality and scientific method of modernism to more irrational thinking and skepticism.

To the postmodernist, objectivity is an illusion, and anyone who speaks with conviction about a particular belief is considered arrogant and naïve. Postmodernism holds that everyone is entitled to their own truth.[7] Naturally, this goes against the theology of the Bible in which truth is absolute. Christ said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” (John 14:6, NKJV).

The Postmodern Church

In the church, postmodern thought has given birth to the Emergent church movement. One issue that some take with this movement is the abandonment of certainty, that doubt and skepticism are lauded as humility. John MacArthur writes, “The Emerging postmodernists have blurred the line between certainty and omniscience. They seem to presume that if we cannot know everything perfectly, we really cannot know anything with any degree of certainty.”[8]

MacArthur further points out that by undermining the certainty of truth, the postmodern church introduces doubt and qualms about every teaching of scripture. Any plainly stated convictions are taken as arrogance.[9]

Theology provides the surest way for Christians to contend with the culture. Any outside influence that seeps into Christian theology weakens the purity of the faith.[10]

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[1] eNotes.com, “Modernism: Introduction”; available from http://www.enotes.com/modernism/introduction; Internet; accessed 9 October 2009

[2] John MacArthur, The Truth War: Fighting for Certainty in an Age of Deception (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2007), 9

[3] Ibid., 10

[4] John MacArthur, Ashamed of the Gospel (Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway Books, 1993), xv

[5] Ibid.

[6] Random House, Inc., “Postmodernism”, available from http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/postmodernism; Internet; accessed 9 October 2009

[7] MacArthur, The Truth War: Fighting for Certainty in an Age of Deception, 11

[8] Ibid., 22

[9] Ibid., 155

[10] R.C. Sproul, Essential Truths of the Christian Faith (Carol Stream, Illinois: Tyndale House Publishers, 199), 156

Niebuhr’s Five Viewpoints

Niebuhr discusses at length in Christ and Culture how Christians have and do interact with the culture they live in. These five viewpoints are summarized below:

Christ against culture

This viewpoint holds that Christ is the sole authority and that the Christian owes no loyalty to culture.[1] This has the effect of segregating the believer from culture, and making their Christian walk almost monastic. The Christian should hold no political office, not serve in any military capacity, shun philosophy and the arts, essentially remove themselves from any kind of public life. Niebuhr stated that “(t)he movement of withdrawal and renunciation is a necessary element in every Christian life, even though it be followed by an equally necessary movement of responsible engagement in cultural tasks.”[2]

Theologically, he points out that those with this view can often be accused of legalism and of neglecting grace in the Christian life. This can lead to the creation of rules which will overstep the saving grace of Christ.

Christ of culture

The second viewpoint Niebuhr explores is that of the Christ of culture, the view that while one considers one’s self a Christian, they still hold great allegiances to culture. These people “interpret culture through Christ” but “understand Christ through culture.”[3] Niebuhr compares those who hold this viewpoint to the early Gnostics, people who are trying to synthesize Christ with contemporary reason, philosophy, and science.

Like the Christ against culture believers, the Christ of culture adherents have issues associated with grace and sin, though typically on the other end of the spectrum. These believers think reason “the highest road to the knowledge of God and salvation.”[4]

Christ above culture

If the previous two viewpoints represent opposite ends of the spectrum, Christ above culture falls directly in the middle. This type represents the large center of Christianity. Rather than focusing on the struggle between Christ and culture, adherents appear to be more concerned with the relationship between God and man.[5] Thus, not much attention is paid to the issue of Christ versus culture. This does not mean that believers with this viewpoint do not hold to the authority of Christ, but simply that they don’t believe that Christ and the world can be opposed to each other. This is the synthetic view, which holds that one can live in both the Christian culture and the worldly culture at the same time. This person’s knowledge of the meaning of Christ differentiates him from the Christ of culture type, but his appreciation of culture separates him from the Christ above culture viewpoint.

The first issue with this type of belief is that this is a type of spiritual pragmatism where the ends justify the means. By synthesizing the two previous viewpoints, Christ above culture becomes a melting pot of everything. It inherits the problems with grace and sin, but includes a new problem of the institutionalization of the church, making something Christ freely did for all humanity more like a human achievement.[6] Niebuhr adds that throughout history, an adherent to this belief “tends to devote himself to the restoration or conservation of a culture and thus becomes a cultural Christian.”[7]

Christ and culture in paradox

To the believers in the paradox between Christ and culture, one cannot compare God and man, much less Christ and culture. While previous viewpoints hold human achievement in some regard, those who believe in the paradox “see that all their works and their work are not only pitifully inadequate, measure by that standard of goodness, but sordid and depraved.”[8] Thus nothing could redeem the culture except Christ, but Christ is not in the culture. The paradoxical believers typically consist of those who are worldly-minded but wish to acknowledge Christ slightly, or those who are radically pious and feel they owe some allegiance to culture.[9]

Christ transforming culture

The final viewpoint that Niebuhr expounds on is that of Christ transforming culture. These adherents have a decidedly more positive view of culture and tend to live more in the theological “now”, believing in what Christ can do to the culture. They have “a view of history that holds that to God all things are possible in a history that is fundamentally not a course of merely human events but always a dramatic interaction between God and men.”[10]

Why Christ and Culture?

The main point that Niebuhr makes is that Christians are constantly interfacing with the culture. Whether intentionally rejecting the culture and embracing faith, or embracing the culture and casually acknowledging faith, Christians are constantly in the trenches in the war with culture. Since this is the case, knowledge of theology is crucial. One must be able to apply theology to their culture, regardless of their particular viewpoint.

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[1] Ibid., 45

[2] Ibid., 68

[3] Ibid., 83

[4] Ibid., 110

[5] Ibid., 117

[6] Ibid., 147

[7] Ibid., 146

[8] Ibid., 152

[9] Ibid., 184

[10] Ibid., 194

History

The history of the modern Christian church begins with the story of Christ and the various accounts of work done by the apostles and other early teachers and missionaries. However, that history as recorded in the Bible ends in the first or second century after Christ’s ascension. As the church spread in the early world it encountered “three centuries of intermittent persecution, martyrdom, and extraordinary courage.”[1]

This early Christian culture had only the theology of the Old Testament to live by at the time. The fact that Jesus fulfilled the law and became the Messiah prophesied about in the Scriptures had not yet been set to written word. Paul’s writings became the basis of much of modern Christian theology. He was the first to declare for a universal and unified church that accepted non-Jews and practiced a universal doctrine.[2]

Early Christians had a broad affect on their culture. Nero blamed them for the burning of Rome.[3] Pliny discovered that the execution of Christians was having little effect on the growing sect, still considered by many to be a cult.[4] Christian martyrs were influenced by their Hellenistic counterparts in their willingness to die for a principle.[5]

During the late second century, a crisis occurred in the Roman Empire which seemed to bring Christianity into acceptance by the Roman citizens. The empire was under constant attack from invaders and common Roman beliefs were being questioned. The Christian tenets of loving and helping your neighbor brought many to think that the feud between Rome and Christianity was insignificant compared to the battle between the empire and invaders. Rather than being viewed as internal enemies, Christians helped to preserve the empire.[6]

During the same period, the theology of Christianity was beginning to integrate with mainstream Roman life. Theologians of the time put forward the idea that Christ’s role “was not to overthrow the empire but to be a teacher and healer” and to bring all previous philosophies and religions under one umbrella, resolving all their differences.[7]

Through the fall of the Roman Empire, the Dark Ages, the Middle Ages, and into the Renaissance and the modern era, Christianity became a way of life, a civilization unto its own. The established church structures became the early civil structures in England and other European countries. The history of Christianity shows ebbs and flows of influence, but what was once considered a small Hebrew cult grew exponentially throughout the world.

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[1] Roger Osborne, Civilization (New York City: Pegasus Books, 2006), 113

[2] Niebuhr, Christ and Culture, 117

[3] Ibid., 116

[4] Ibid.

[5] Ibid.

[6] Ibid., 122

[7] Ibid.

Thesis Statement

The clash between Christianity and culture has existed ever since the beginning of the church. Sometimes Christians have had great influence on the culture, other times culture has greatly influenced Christianity. This constant tug-of-war between faith and “the world” defines the struggle many people of faith face every day. A more thorough knowledge of theology as it pertains to these different areas of life can help everyone make headway against the contemporary culture that Christians face.

Introduction

It should be noted from the outset that this paper borrows its title from a chapter in Dr. H. Richard Niebuhr’s Christ and Culture. In his most famous work, Niebuhr outlines five different viewpoints of how Christians have interacted with the culture around them.[1] Each of the viewpoints given has strengths and weaknesses, but the book itself is a treatise on how Christians can apply theology to the culture every day. Niebuhr’s dedication to pursuing the connection between theology and contemporary culture is summed up in a quote from his obituary in 1962: “Let them orbit. Let them take their sins and their wars to other planets. We will have to ask the same theological questions no matter where we are in the universe.”[2]

How does theology wind its way into contemporary culture? Is theology something that should be left to the academics, authors, and pastors, or is it something that the lay person and even the unconverted can use in everyday life? Furthermore, can theology be used to combat the common views of the world, views that seem to line up with Christian faith, but may run contrary to it under the surface?

In contemporary culture, faith and religion have been pushed back from the public arena. In the last 50 years, what was once a public faith has now become a private matter. Contrary to that, Michael McGough states that “(m)ost battles in the culture wars are joined in the public square.” He adds that both sides of the battle attribute their views to belief in a higher power, making this a theological discussion.[3]

Culture and theology will always contrast each other, but the challenge to the Christ-believer is how to apply theology to contemporary worldviews. Throughout history that challenge has existed, sometimes under threat of violence. It has always been and will continue to be difficult to synthesize culture and theology. This paper will first explore historical viewpoints of theology and culture in order to give some background to the discussion. The remaining sections will discuss various aspects of modern theology and culture, attempting to show that theology can be impressed upon culture in a way that glorifies Christ.

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[1] H. Richard Niebuhr, Christ and Culture (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1951), these viewpoints will be discussed further in a later portion of this paper.

[2] “Rev. H. Richard Niebuhr Dead: Authority on Theological Ethics”, New York Times, 6 July 1962, sec. A, p. 25

[3] Michael McGough, A Field Guide to the Culture Wars: The Battle Over Values From the Campaign Trail to the Classroom (Westport, Connecticut: Praeger Publishers, 2009), 4

Over the next few days, I will be posting sections from my research paper for my Systematic Theology class at Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary. I’m pretty proud of this one. It is one of the few papers that I had done well before the due date, and because of this, I was able to let others read it before I submitted it. I owe each of them a debt of gratitude. You all helped me make this paper what it is, and I hope that you might be willing to do the same thing in the future. After all, I still have 87 more hours to go before I’m done.

The general idea of this paper was to show how theology is important to a contemporary worldview. I chose to center a great deal of the paper on H. Richard Niebuhr’s popular book Christ and Culture. This book is over 50 years old but still has some valuable insights into how Christians approach this issue. I read it last year and greatly enjoyed it. I recommend it to everyone, but it’s not an easy read.

I hope you enjoy the paper. I received an A on it and I do feel it’s one of the best things I’ve put to a computer screen. As always, your comments would be greatly appreciated.

Have you ever been surprised by what you find in the Bible? Has God ever given you a revelation through the study of His word? Well, that happened to me this week and it was such a wonderful gift from above.

This summer our home group has been having a phenomenal study on spiritual gifts. This last week, most of the text that we studied was out of I Corinthians 12. The first few verses of that section of scripture are so rich and full of great insight, but there were three simple verses that really caught me.

⁴Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit.⁵And there are varieties of ministries, and the same Lord.

⁶There are varieties of effects, but the same God who works all things in all persons.

I Corinthians 12:4-6 (NASB)

Read that several times and really take it in. Each verse describes something different, but they are so similar as well. The first verse states that there are different kinds of gifts, but they are all given by the Holy Spirit. Elsewhere in this passage (I Cor. 12:11) it says that each gift is given as the Spirit wills. The gifts that each of us are given as Christians are under the authority of the Holy Spirit.

I Cor 12:5 demonstrates the difference between having gifts and having ministries.  The gift is the ability to serve in some way, but a ministry is actually putting that gift into use. We could have many kinds of spiritual gifts, but if we don’t use them what good are they? This verse shows that Jesus is the authority over the ministries.

Now for the really good part. The Holy Spirit is in charge of gifting you to be able to serve. Jesus establishes a ministry for you to serve in. What happens after that? I Cor 12:6 tells us that the are a myriad of results, of which God the Father works through all people.

Do you see why that is so powerful? If I’m working within the gifts given me by the Spirit, in the ministries that Christ Himself established for me, I don’t have to worry about results. In case that isn’t clear yet, let’s say it one more time. I don’t have to worry about results. Whatever happens through the ministry Christ has given has nothing to do with me. I can rest in the knowledge that by serving Him in the right place, I don’t need to concern myself with the results.

As a worship leader this is such a comforting and freeing message. Often I come off the platform after worship wondering if everything was done right in order to produce the results that I expect to see. Did we sing the right songs, did I play all the right chords, did I do everything possible in order to direct people in worship? I don’t have to do that anymore. So long as I continue to be gifted in this by the Spirit and placed in this ministry by Christ, I don’t have to worry about what happens. The results are in God’s hands.

Now, I still need to do the best that my talents allow. I can’t just mail it in every week thinking it will be taken care of. I have to spend time alone with God, seeking Him for the guidance to choose the right songs and to make sure that I am in His will. If that is done though, I can leave the rest of it up to Him. Such a wonderful gift of freedom in Him.

What do you think? Let me know your thoughts on this.

⁴For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not mere men? ⁵What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. ⁶I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. ⁷So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.

I Corinthians 3:4-7

Who are your favorite authors? Mine right now are John Stott, H. Richard Neibuhr, Steve Farrar, and JK Rowling. Two of those you might be familiar with, two of those you probably aren’t.

It seems that every time you walk into a Christian bookstore or the Christian section of one of the big chain stores, you find the same few authors. Joel Osteen, Joyce Meyer, Beth Moore, Max Lucado, John Piper, and a few others. Are they the only people who have insight that should be shared? Or are they the people who happened to get very popular, and so book sellers are only interested in putting their books on the shelves since they most likely have a sure-fire winner?

How many current books and music are only presented to us because the authors are popular? The business reason behind it is that their books and music sell, so the business makes money. But what about the Christian store that profits from the heretical? What have they really profited? Matthew 16:26 says “What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul?” Are we as a Christian body gaining the world through a better life or more prosperity, but at the same time losing our souls due to our shortsighted view of eternity?

Don’t take this as though I’m flaming the people who are popular. Some have great insights into Scripture and really seem to be communicating a message that God is the center of. However, others are laying out plans for a selfish, me-centered Gospel, which is not what Jesus laid out for us. We don’t want our best life now (yes, that’s a shot at one of the authors), we pine for our best life in eternity, when we are no longer separated from God. Why should we embrace the fleeting moment of our fallen human life at the expense of the eternal life with God?

Who should we put our faith in? The person who plants and waters the seed, or the God who gives it the ability to grow? If Paul, being an apostle of Jesus Christ himself didn’t consider himself to be anything, then why should we. Why should we put our faith in people, when we can put our faith in Him who created all of us?

Seems a pretty easy answer to me.

How often do we find ourselves waiting on an event to occur before we change anything? We wait for New Years Eve to start a new diet, we wait until next month to start a budget, we wait until our kids are older to take them to a specific place. We wait, we wait, we wait. In our Christian lives, are we waiting on something to occur before we commit to Jesus?

I often joke with people that I’m not doing something until God rolls back the eastern sky and tells me to do it. Really, I’m not particular about which sky He chooses to use, north, south, east, or west. God just has to do something spectacular to prove to me that this is what He wants before I’m ready to go down whatever path He has intended. Isn’t that the way that we all are though? We want some watershed moment to occur before we choose to go down the path that God has laid out for us.

It seems like we are waiting on our very own Damascus road experience. We want to be blinded by Jesus before we embrace the light.

Why do we do this? I think in many cases we are scared of the unknown. We hesitate because we aren’t sure what is going to happen, when it will happen, or how it will happen. It paralyzes us into inaction. We are convinced that our plans and thoughts are better than His plans and thoughts, so we bury it and go on. How many opportunities do we waste doing this?

Jesus didn’t often tell people to wait. In Matthew 28:19, Jesus says “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”. John 8:1-11 tells the story of a adulteress who Jesus tells “Go and sin no more.” It was a directive to stop sinning now, to not wait.

Are we ashamed of what we believe? Are we waiting for that blinding light on the road to Damascus? God speaks to us every day, if only we listen. We have to devote ourselves to prayer and scripture, to daily conversing and communing with our Lord. It is through those small steps that our ears will be opened to hearing His voice. God isn’t likely to blast a trumpet, send a wall of fire, or part the Mississippi to get something through to us (though that might happen, and it would be pretty cool). It is more likely that He is going to whisper to us and work through our interaction with others around us. Are you willing to go? Are you willing to say “Here am I. Send me!”

Tiger Woods is a phenomenal golfer. OK, so that really isn’t news to anyone, but the reason why is what really makes him stand out. Tiger is driven to be the best and when he sets his mind on a goal, almost no single golfer can beat him. The worst thing to do is make him mad, because then he really turns it on. Tiger has golf skill beyond compare, but it’s his focus and desire to win that makes him nearly unbeatable. Why is he driven this way? Possibly because of his father, but probably that’s just an innate gift of his. Tiger has the ability to shut out the world and have a single purpose. Woe to those who come between him and his purpose.

How many people do you know who can focus in on a single task or goal and follow it through to completion? It’s usually the most driven among us that have that ability. Their competitive desire allows them to put everything else behind them and focus solely on the task at hand. I’m not that way, not usually. I have my moments of being “in the zone” where I can block out distractions, but they are few and far between. I’m interested in far too many things to be focused on any single thing.

I struggle right now to read the Bible. With all the events that go on in life, some things get pushed into the background. However, we choose what goes there. Every day we make a choice of what to do. Do we sleep or pray? Read the latest novel or the Bible? How important is our relationship with God to us, and does it show in what we do? I’ve heard many times that in order to find out how spiritual someone is, look at his checkbook. Personally, I think a person can give thousands to churches or charities and be a complete jerk. If you really want to find out how spiritual someone is, look at their calendar. What do they do with their time? Find out where their focus is and you will find what is important to them.

None of us can keep up this kind of focus for long, sometimes maybe no more than 10-15 minutes at a time. Everyone has down time and needs to relax. Some watch a movie, some read a book, some write, others work on cars or create art. All of us need that recharging time. But, what are we recharging for?

What if each one of us could spend our time in prayer with the same singularity of purpose that Tiger plays golf? How much could the world change? How much would we change? What if we mauled anyone who stood between us and our time with God? There’s a song by Delirious? called Take Off My Shoes which describes this. The first verse of the song says:

I’ll take off my shoes, I’m coming in,
Untie this rope, I’m staying with him,
Love of my life, I’ll live and die,
Just for the moments for my king and I.

Can we live this way? Can we push away our own wants and desires to spend our time with God? Life barges in constantly with interruptions, but we have to be willing to untie the rope that keeps pulling us away from the Holy of Holies. Turn off the cell phone, unplug the computer, hide the remote, put the kids to bed, and find God.