What a scary concept, that religious leaders are not going to make it to heaven! Here is what Jesus said: "For I say unto you, that except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven" (Matt. 5:20).
Two things come to mind: 1) I don't want to be a Pharisee; 2) I don't want to be shepherded by a Pharisee.
Do you see yourself as spiritual? Do you think everyone is? Not all are believers, but all are made in my image, and are spiritual on that basis. For this reason all have the basic concerns for a sense of identity, a need to belong to a community, and to lead a life of meaning and purpose. These are unavoidable questions that everyone faces, although some find better answers than others. Can you find answers in all three of these areas in one place? You can answer all of them in a church.
How do you describe the most powerful spiritual experiences of your life? Do you say that they are mountaintop experiences? When everyday experiences are wearing you down, how do you describe these experiences to others? Do you say that you are going through a valley? These are common expressions, but even a casual examination will reveal that people live in valleys and they don’t live on top of mountains. What is the conclusion to take away from this? If your faith is real it has to work in the everyday life you actually live. This is possible if you have eyes to see and ears to hear.
Do you love me? Do you love life? You live in a wonderful world I created for you and you experience my favor and blessing continually. What is the obvious and appropriate response? And yet you know Christians who are grumpy and sour. Haven’t I created the conditions for you to lead a life of joy and passion? If it is true that he who loves God should love his brother also, then it is also true that he who loves God should love life itself. It is okay to let your enthusiasm for life be visible and demonstrative.
Have you heard that beauty is in the eye of the beholder? This implies that beauty is subjective. What about ugliness? Is that also in the eye of the beholder? There is more universal agreement on beauty than ugliness, for the tendency is to impute ugliness to those who are not like you, who are outside of your group, who hold different values and customs and manners. By this definition more people are ugly or not, but this is entirely subjective and context driven, and perhaps they feel the same way about you.
Where do you begin your spiritual journey? If you are raised in a church you may accept its doctrines as valid premises without question, but if you try to share your faith with others they may find that you are starting too far down the road for them to relate. You could start with the premise that everyone is spiritual because they are made in my image, whether they attend any church or profess any creed or not. People are basically constituted to live in relationship to the transcendent.
Have you ever looked for me? Where would you look? You know where your friends live by their addresses. Do I have an address? Jacob was surprised to find that I was in a random place where he spent the night. Will you find me in church? You can, but you can also hide from me there. Will you find me in the wilderness? If you look for me in the vast woods or plains or mountains you will find me there too. So what is the common theme here? I promised that the Kingdom of God was within you.
What do you think is the essence of your faith? Professing the correct beliefs? Belief is a strong theme in the Bible, and grace is a free gift of God, not of works. Yet what do you say in every other area of life? Actions speak louder than words. There is support for this in the Bible too, and faith without works is dead. I told a story of a man with two sons. One said he would work in the vineyard and did not, the other said he would not, but did. Which one did the will of his father?
Do you want to be a prophet? My word teaches you to desire this gift. This is a position of honor, but prophets are outsiders, or at least on the edge of the group, so they can speak correction to it. So this is not something to pursue lightly, particularly if popularity is important to you. Do you see how I spent my entire ministry as an outsider? I declared John the Baptist to be a prophet and he was a voice crying in the wilderness. Consider how things ended for both of us and also my remarks about how the religious establishment had done the same to the prophets who came before.
People are imperfect. They have their own agendas and fears and goals. I have heard many horror stories of authoritarian pastors damaging people’s faith as they abused "their" authority. Some have told their people that God doesn't speak today nor does He give dreams or do miracles. I even had one young lady in my class who was told by a prophet who she had to marry! One person who spoke to me had quit journaling because his pastor told him God wasn't speaking. Wow! We know what Jesus' thoughts are about those who damage a child's faith (Matt. 18:6 - better to be drowned).
"I don’t mind submitting to God, Who is perfect, but to submit to people? No way! I wouldn’t submit my life to the counsel of any other person. It is my life and I am to take control and responsibility for it. Besides, others do not understand me well enough to have that kind of authority in my life. People are imperfect." I used to believe the lie that I should not trust the counsel of others.
