At my church, the college students are revered for their venerable wisdom and vast life experience. This is only natural, of course. As with most sages, people seem to hang on their every word. So today, you could hear a pin drop when one of these august creatures introduced a worship song with this priceless pearl:
“God wants to give us a spirit of freaking out for Jesus rather than a spirit of despair. So just let yourself freak out for Jesus with this song.”
Man, you know what? Wise people totally kill me.
Being older and less wise myself, I can only speculate that she may have been trying to paraphrase Isaiah 61 and his description of year of the Lord’s favor, where it says the Lord will:
bestow on them a crown of beauty
instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness
instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise
instead of a spirit of despair.
So we sang the song and I liked the song, but, in a blatant display of my clearly subpar Christianity, I did not FREAK OUT. And if, in this new lexicon of the postmodern Christian, I must choose between “a spirit of freaking out for Jesus” and a spirit of despair, frankly, I’ll take the despair, thanks. At least I’ll feel a little less like an ass.
Because the Lord ALSO says in Isaiah:
I will give you the treasures of darkness, riches stored in secret places, so that you may know that I am the LORD, the God of Israel, who summons you by name.
And again, this is all just conjecture and I could be wrong, but I imagine I’ve learned more from those treasures of darkness than I ever could from a few moments freaking out for Jesus.
I just want to hear you say, “the pit of des-pahhhh” like they do on the Princess Bride.
I couldn’t agree more. Sensationalism. “Emotionalism”. I don’t remember reading alot of that in Paul’s writings.
*sigh* So sorry. I’m over it, too.
a) despair
b) freak out for Jesus
Personally I don’t like the choices…couldn’t we add a c) Worship Him in the Spirit of Truth because of WHO He is and not *what* He could do for/give to me etc.?
ASM – The Princess Bride, YES!! hahahha!
Lyn — “But if you were REALLY worshipping Him, you would FREAK OUT, too!!” or something like that …..
Hmmm…I guess it would be a matter of defining our terms…when I hear the term “freak out”, I envision someone completely out of control, which according to Ephesians (or is it Galatians? I always confuse the two!) is not a fruit of the Spirit.
I probly shouldn’t have opened this can, because now that I think deeper, I can’t judge the heart of a person worshipping God, only He can do that, but I can say I would have been uncomfortable there and probly could not have sung along. Sorry for the disruption…carry on 🙂
this strikes a chord with me. lemme hear your thoughts, t.
a few weeks ago, a friend told me that she knew that i was not “saved” (not her words – i don’t remember what she said) because there is not visible evidence in my life of being filled with the Holy Spirit.
i have had a hard time dealing with that. i guess i just want to hear that, like lyn said, you can’t judge the heart of a person worshipping God. but it is unsettling to me that there are Christians out there who doubt my salvation because it doesn’t look like theirs.
AS — Oh, sweet Lord, how I hate stuff like this!! I am SO sorry she said that to you, Amanda.
What would be enough evidence for her? What was her goal in telling you that? What was the point?? To encourage you? I’m sure she DIDN’T. To judge you? Sounds like she DID. What does she want you to do with that information? Whole thing sounds Pharisaical to me — and it just pisses me off for you, frankly! PRESENTATION is everything and it sounds like she presented this in a blatantly judgmental, condescending way. How you stand before her is NOT the point, but how you stand before God. Man cannot steal your salvation — no matter how many hurtful, destructive things he (or she) may say. That’s the truly miraculous thing — it’s grace and GRACE alone that seals the deal.
I always believe that the Holy Spirit can be working in a person’s life in myriad ways not readily discernible to the naked eye, yet no less valid or valuable than this “visible evidence” your friend speaks of. And God’s timeline is radically different from man or the world’s. In my opinion, it’s just dangerous territory to judge the working of the Holy Spirit in another person’s life. Someone who does that is putting herself in the position of God. And, seriously, good luck with all THAT, Judgey!
You know, God is not sitting up in His heaven waiting for visible evidence; he wants belief. Isn’t that what good ol’ John 3:16 references? So simple, yet so confounding, it seems.
Sounds like maybe this conversation with your friend isn’t over. I’d be curious what her answers to those questions above would be. When someone insists on continuing to judge me, I like to say, “Oh, well, you know what? Why don’t you pray for me about that? Let’s pray NOW!!”
Shuts ’em up every time. Conversation OVER!
But, really, AS, your confidence in your salvation is not a matter of her opinion; it’s a matter of God’s character, his Word — and THAT is unchanging.
But what do I know? I have demons, remember? 😉
I always have such mixed feelings when I’m in a spiritual setting that includes the hand-waving types. I’m uncomfortable because that isn’t my style, nor the style of my usual church environment, and because I wonder if they are like “the hypocrites who pray on the street corners” who “have had their reward.” Then I get uncomfortable because suddenly I am judging them, and who am I to do that? Maybe they really ARE moved by the spirit. Then I get judgmental again because I wonder if they think we’re all in competition for a limited number of spaces in Heaven (we’re not), and they therefore have to out-do everyone else. Hence, they symbolize the fallen human condition which they are condemning. Then I realize my own internal lack of grace toward them and I turn my judgmentalism on myself. And round and round it goes! All I know for sure is that being “saved” means accepting the gift, freely offered. I don’t have to DO anything. All the demonstrativeness strikes me as equivalent to putting the world’s most expensive diamond in a gift box big enough to hold an elephant. On the other hand, the type of gathering the old-time Quakers used to have, when people would just sit there in silence for a couple hours, might turn into a competition to see who could breathe the most quietly and avoid coughing the longest. Conclusion (if any): “natural” is cool, for us and for God. Forced reverence and forced exuberance are not.
Amanda…I think I’d ask your friend how she got the job as Holy Spirit patrol?
I am so sorry those words were spoken to you.
And, I apologize again for opening that there can of worms. I didn’t mean to imply at all that someone else’s style of worship is inferior or less than holy or whatever it came across as…just that I personally would have been uncomfortable.
Tracey…you crack me up!
At least WE all agree on this. There are so many that don’t.
I knew I couldn’t go wrong with a Princess Bride quote.
“why don’t you give me a papercut and poor lemon juice on it?”
Lyn — It is SO not a can of worms; it’s worth discussing. No need at ALL for an apology!
I too have learned more in my time of despair than any other time in my walk with Christ. One of our pastors constantly calls the ocngregation, “Dude.” Some things I can’t get used to.
thank you for your responses. her words really caught me off guard, and they shouldn’t have. i should always be prepared with the armor of God, and i wasn’t.
i know that:
1) He requires that we accept His Son’s gift of life as a trade for our sins.
2) He does not require me to grow my hair out or unpierce my ears to prove that i have accepted that gift.
3) He allows his Holy Spirit to convict each of us in a different way.
4) He is the only one who can judge my responsiveness and sincerity.
🙂 i am not sure where this conversation is going. i’ll let you know!
AS — Well, how could you have anticipated that your FRIEND would say something like THAT to you?? Of course, you were taken off guard!
And you’re right — HE is the only one who can judge your responsiveness and sincerity.
I do hope your friend will …. ah, soften a bit on this point, AS.