Ashamed of the Church: Trump cards
Ashamed of the Church: Trump cards is a post in the series “Ashamed of the Church.” The series follows my Lenten vow to honestly, yet respectfully, express my opinions and criticism of Christians and the Church. You’ll want to read the introductory post.
We all love to get those trump cards when we’re playing a card game, don’t we? It means that for one round of the game no one can challenge us. Isn’t it empowering to know that, for one moment, you don’t have to answer to anyone?
I believe Christians and the Church are guilty of using God as a trump card in life. A difficult decision has to be made. It’s a close call and likely an unpopular one. An elder board decides to proceed with an unpopular building project (and questionable financing plans), a pastor wants a more contemporary service or to divert money from a debt reduction fund for ministry. Sometimes rather than explain the reasoning and persuade people, it’s just easier to say that God told us to do it, isn’t it? After all, who of us wants to question the decision maker on his relationship with God or whether He spoke to them and in what manner?
I wish it were limited to Church decisions, but it isn’t. A young lady wants to move somewhere else but she’s bound by the remaining 10 months on her lease agreement. So rather than pay the penalty or throw herself on the mercy of the landlord and offer to help find another tenant, it’s just easier to claim God told her to break the lease in a session of prayer. Somehow it’s simpler to break our promises if we can claim God told us to do it. After all, if we had our way we’d follow through but we need to be obedient to God. Right?
A guy decides to move and change jobs. He’s leaving a successful career behind and taking a major pay cut. His friends think he’s crazy, so it’s just easier for him to claim a mandate from God. After all, to explain to his family and friends that he comes alive in that vocation, that it would do his heart good, well that’s just being selfish isn’t it?
A discussion of this behavior came up in the comments of a friend’s blog post and one of the commenters rightly labeled it as the sin of using God’s name in vain. Unfortunately it has become quite prevalent among those identifying with Jesus and I’m ashamed of that. It is almost to the point that upon hearing someone say that God told them to do something, I begin to question their motives and distrust them. Are they being sincere, or just wrapping up their own agenda in Holy language in hopes they will not be challenged?
Do not misunderstand me. I believe that God can and does guide and speak to His people. But because there are so many other forces trying to influence us (the self, our enemy, marketers, etc), it takes incredible discernment to truly hear God’s voice and know it is Him. Developing that discernment I believe begins with the reading and study of scripture and extends into solitude and prayer. I suspect if we truly embraced these spiritual disciplines, we would hear much less of people attaching God’s name in support of matters to which He is indifferent.
Have you ever made a difficult decision based on hearing from God? Were you challenged on your decision and how did you respond?
Photo credit: bram_app
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