The Rake

We can’t please everybody all the time. That’s not in the Bible, but we should reopen the canon and slip it in there. Humans are difficult to appease. What makes one happy enrages another. So what’s the solution? In Reaching Out Without Dumbing Down, Marva Dawn gave me some new insight.

Acts 15:28 says, “For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us….” This passage is about the apostles writing to Antioch, a culture that placed human desires over God’s. They wrote that they’ve consulted the Holy Spirit first and will send help according to what He wants, not the populous of Antioch.

Democracy relies on popular vote. Ya know, 48% say yes and 52% no. This is majority-rules and that’s how it is, but should that be the way in Church?

Anyone who has ever spent much time in the Church knows that we are called to be different. We are called to be Uniquely Christian. Sometimes though, we lose sight of that and fall into our democratic culture. The U.S. IS a government by the people and for the people, but the church should not be. She IS a church by God and for God.

So, when two sides argue in the church and choose democracy there will always be a loser. However, if they listen together to the Holy Spirit, then the church becomes faithfully united to God’s desire.

Dawn says it really well, “We have let the democracy of the culture around us prevent the Church from being its own culture – a genuine Christ following community.”

The solution: all sides consulting the Holy Spirit before themselves by PRAYING. Man this prayer thing is HUGE.