Amazing

i read a lot of blogs and publications and interviews by various church leaders.    huge variety…very diverse.    many of them are challenging to my leadership and encouraging to my heart.   reading is water to my soul.

however,  there is a phrase i’m growing weary of.   it appears again and again.   it’s a favorite of many.   and i’m treading on some really thin ice by criticizing it. the words go something like this:

we’re really seeing god do some amazing things in our church these days…

really?   how do you know?

when a lot of people start coming?   when people are healed of illnesses?   when more money starts rolling in?    when you have a bunch of baptisms?   when prayers are answered the way you want?   when the details of your plans begin to be fulfilled?   or simply when good things are happening?

i guess my frustration is not so much with our willingness to ascribe the amazingness to god… when those things are present…as much as it is with what we are saying when those things are not happening.

is god only doing amazing things when the good stuff is happening?   is he choosing not to be amazing by withholding  what we are asking for in our prayers…or sending us more money or more people or more stuff?

is god only amazing sometimes?

can we still call god amazing in the bad times,  as well as the good?   do we have the depth of character and the breadth of faith to also identify god’s silence as amazing?   what about his discipline?   what about his apparent inactivity or when it seems like he is no longer listening?

if god is being amazing by saving and healing and changing people over there…at that church…what’s his problem with not being amazing over here…at this church? come on,  god…

if god is,  in fact,  truly amazing,  then he is (by necessity and by design) doing amazing things at all times.

can’t we just say that god is amazing…and leave it at that?

yeah.   i’m a little testy tonight.   so sue me.

#faith #God