Most Altar Calls:
"You're in
danger of hell. Repeat this prayer after me.."
Equivalent to
"The plane is
going down. Take this Jesus parachute.."
"Now that
you've prayed that prayer here is what God wants you to do/here is how you can
get involved in our church/etc."
Equivalent to
"Now that
you've got your Jesus parachute go fly the plane & save everyone
else.."
Jesus' invitation to
mankind was an invitation for Him to give us rest. Most altar calls stop
offering you grace before the prayer is even over. "Here's the gift, now
God wants you to get to work!" No time for rest. Jesus often told people
he healed to not tell others what he had done. We need time to soak in the
cure, to rest & be loved by Him, to learn His love for us by experiencing
it. Scripture never calls us "God's missionaries" it calls us
"God's children." Children aren't forced to work 3 seconds after they
are born, likewise God's children as they are reborn are not commissioned by
God to work but invited by Him to rest.
Jesus also described
himself as "gentle & humble." For many God is rarely seen as
gentle. Someone who needs to forgive all the time because he is perpetually
offended & angry is not gentle. Even rarer & in opposition to all religion
is a God who is humble. God is pictured as doing everything "for His own
glory" & we are supposed to do likewise. Jesus who perfectly
represents Our Father is humble, humble in His heart. God's mindset is not
works based, sin based, or ego based. Yet He has been taught to be all of those
things to the uttermost where almost all He thinks about is people's works
& sins & how much he should be praised.
So if we view God as
ungentle & unhumble we will not be able to rest. How could anyone rest
thinking there is a harsh conceited egomaniac "lording" over them
24/7? If you are put off by me opposing the idea that the purpose of everything
is to bring God glory consider that "Love is not self-seeking" &
"God is love."
Here are some things
you cannot rest with:
Shame
Guilt
The need to be
repeatedly forgiven
The call to
constantly work or grow or improve or act "right"
The idea that sin
has any power over you
The pressure to
"get out of your comfort zone"
The command to be
holy or perfect
The pressure or
responsibility to change or save or evangelize the world
The idea that you
have to constantly gain your Father's approval
I totally forgot about your blog. No offense. It's been two years or so since I read it and it's still like fresh water. I'm just happy you're still preaching Jesus. So thank you for that. Peace
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