I Haven't Learned Yet

There are many lessons in my walk which I keep forgetting on a regular basis. One of the big ones has to do with living out my callingg as I endeavour to point to Christ. Time and time again I succumb to the kind of thinking that tells me this;

'If you want to reach the world, you need to be like the world.'

In my days as a youth pastor wanna be, I'd often play videos. There is a place for technology and there is a place for using cultural references, but if it becomes integral to the message, it's dead isn't it?

The intro to my last post on Facebook read, "This Week on Tucker and Taz." For those of you who don't know, Tucker and Taz are two popular radio DJ's for a local rock radio station. In a way, when I chose that intro, I thought that it might compell some people to check out the link. So far, it's my least popular post. More people checked out the sports statistics for my children's soccer teams.

After all, my kids really do ROCK way more than Tucker and Taz. They've got nothing on my kids.

As a people who have been purchased out of this dying world, having discovered this pearl of greatest price, we each have the desire to see other's come to know Jesus. The more I write and speak, the more I ask myself how one can write and say things that nonbelievers will actually listen to. Having the desire for other to experience the depth of His love is part of the motivation behind what I do, but it seems that Christians are primarily the ones who read my stuff.

I mean, if you write a letter trying to tell nonbelievers about Jesus, where do you send it? Where do they gather? Do they have conventions where they sit down to discuss their doctrine and honestly consider teh life of Jesus? Or if you write a book, how do you paint the cover so that it will be picked up off of the Chapters Bookshhelf? OR when you write a blog, what can you do to draw them in?

Time and time again I discover that imbibing myself in popular culture and making reference to its fails to accomplish that purpose. As of yesterday, only one person had checked out, "This Week on Tucker and Taz". The funny thing is, I believe that the one who viewed the page may have done so accidenttally. It might have even been the Russian.

Why is that? I'm thinkig that for the most part, people who are fans of Tucker and Taz,or any other cultural icon really don't care about what a Christian blogger has to say. On the flip side, very few believers who are serious about their calling really care much about Tucker and Taz. So in the end, the whole thing is a dud. Noone from either side of the fence really cares.

I often wonder who I appeal to. When I write, I like to think that I'm speaking to a people who are sick and tired of contributing to the decay of this world, whether you have been united with Jesus yet or not. If you're a serioius lover of this world, then go do that. There are a whole lot of things to spend your time and effort on in this life other than your Father's business.

If by chance, you have clicked on this and you haven't heard - I want you to know that you have a REAL Father in Heaven, who sent His one and only Son to bring you home. His name is Jesus. Lay down your life and receive Him. If you don't know what that looks like, let me know. I hope I can help.