Management Christianity

Christianity in America is a religion of management. Churches hawk “Better Marriage”, “Better Parents”, and a list of self help/self improvement classes that all fail to deal with the issue that in sin we are dead and Jesus came to give us life. We learn to manage life not live it. We learn how to manage the disappointment, the pain and even the joy of life. We seldom hear, much less accept the invitation to come and live it. If Jesus came to help me figure out a way to avoid both the highs and lows of relationships He could have just as well stayed in heaven. If he came to invite me to live through those lows in light of His care and steadiness, if He came to invite me to enjoy the highs in light of His surpassing greatness, then I want to know that Jesus.

I want to live my life not manage it. Management is always about gain while minimizing risk. Life is often about loss. It is about risking and risking greatly. I want to know my wife. I want her anger, confusion, and disappointments as well as her joy and understanding. Christianity will give me steps to minimize the exposure to anger. It will help me direct her confusion elsewhere. It will school me on lowering expectation so that disappointment is less likely. I hate that.

Real life is not about narrowing the band width of our emotions. While it is true that in doing so I can minimize pain, the trade-off is that I rob myself of the possibility of true joy. Jesus said He came that I would have life to the full. He also promised He would never leave me alone. I think that means Jesus will walk the path of pain with me. I also believe He will ride the wave of joy. And, He will show my what true life is in both.

Christianity has also become about empty promises and pat answers. The truth is life is hard and there are no easy answers nor remedies. Christianity is not a treatment of symptoms. Rather, Christianity, true Jesus life spirituality, is a radical surgery preformed to remove the cancer and begin healing. I don't want to hear that if I pray more everything will be ok. It may and with equal probability it may not. I don't want to hear about not having enough faith. Some of the greatest faith guys in the Bible, Job, Peter and Paul had debilitating life crises. Trade with them? No thanks.

I just want to know the real Jesus, not the American version, who is a Republican, attends a dead church faithfully and hides behind favorite commandments while ignoring others. I want the Jesus that can answer the tough "street questions" of life. "Why am I here?" "Why can't I seem to get what others have?" "What if I end up all alone?" I want the Jesus that won't frown if I cuss because life is hard and edgy why can't my speach be edgy as well? I want the Jesus that is more than a Sunday placeebo for guilt that will probably increase anyway. I want a Jesus that can change me at the heart level and make me a better, more alive person. I want the Jesus who is God, because only He could do that.