Misguided Concern

"Should I not be concerned about that great city- God." (jonah 4.9) This rhetorical question is really resonating with me today. It speaks of what is important to God and should therefore 'concern' his people. If you know the story, Jonah was far more concerned about his personal comfort than he was for the 120k souls who were completely unaware of the love, grace, and justice of God. In fact what triggered Jonah's anger was not the prospect of judgment falling on this sea of wayward husbands, wives, children, grandfathers and aunts...but rather he was infuriated that he would not be comfortable WHILE they were reduced to soot.

What a selfish mistake it is in the church when we get most outraged by our lack of comfort (it is not the music style, decor, dress codes, etc. that makes us comfortable)! It is sad but true that many churches spend the bulk of their energy and resources making themselves as comfortable as possible for the "light show." Instead of really have a concern for the poor, the lost, the lonely, they fret like an unruly guest at a customer service desk-demanding 100% guest satisfaction. Today I'm reminded that God's concern is more for the lost of the world, than he is about my personal 'comfort.' In fact it isn't even close.

Surprise Doping Test

I'm following Lance Armstrong's tweets. During this 2009 TdF, this has provided an interesting perspective on the anti-doping methods of pro cycling. For example, one tweet describes Lance and the Astana team eating breakfast, the next moment he's peeing in a cup for a screener. Interesting after each test, Armstrong says of these random screenings...this is good. He says that in light of the horrid reputation cycling has had with performance enhancing drugs, well cheating. So to that degree it's good, to keep people honest. This got me thinking about what it would be like if Christ followers, those claiming to be competing on Jesus' team...what if we were random screened to see if we were for real or not. Are we really living out this life we claim to live or are we cheating. I mean the church too has been blemished through the years by people cheating. So random testing..who knows this could be good. Problem is there's no one qualified to give the test, because we've all cheated at one time or another...all of us except one.