Thinking of my airborne friends...

In my meditation this morning, I was thinking of the my traveling seatmates that I mentioned yesterday...the "understanding" that they exhibited about the things of faith - things to which they were adamantly committed and even "evangelistic" - were things that they had created for themselves, a sort of "paste-up" God and view of how the world operates.  They had drawn from atheism (there is no God), philosophy (God is an uncaring gamesman), ancient paganism (we are at the mercy of a capricious God), humanism (what you call God is really your "inner self"), Hinduism (karma - what goes around comes around, and reincarnation) and simple arrogance (the Bible is a completely human construction, a collection of made-up myths).

When I first realized I was called to pastor, I prayed that God would give me a pastor's heart.  What a painful prayer that has turned out to be - it's like having a new set of eyes that sees people more as God sees them (and us).  It brings dimension to the teachings of Scripture about the condition of humanity and human rebellion; how blinding and enslaving sin is; how selfish and self-centered the unregenerate human is; how desperate they are to want to believe they are in control; how angry they are at injustice, even as their arguments promote that they only want justice for others (but mercy for themselves).  But even as offensive as the unregenerate human can be in their expressions of their desires, their condition is heart-rending and pathetic, compelling those of us who love God to reach out - to keep trying.

For me, that's why these meetings in Minneapolis are necessary and why the "10A issues" are sourced in false teaching and the authority of Scripture.  For the church to come to people like my seatmates bereft and empty-handed of a gospel that frees and transforms is the worst kind of hypocrisy.