“Salvation”
Langston Hughes
I spent a November weekend at Anderson University each year of high school. Youth groups gathered for ICYC, Indiana Christian Youth Conference. My pastor was on the planning committee so we got great seats and always knew what was planned. My junior year there was a big emphasis placed on overseas missions. We raised money for a hospital in Turkey and heard from missionaries who worked in Cambodia, Mexico, and Zambia. On the final night, there was an altar call for anyone feeling called to overseas missions. Many people rushed to the front, but I stayed in my seat. I felt compassion for the suffering in other nations, but I felt that my place was in a classroom in America. Although the speakers certainly tried to make me feel called to missions, I was led a different way. So I kept on sitting even though everyone else was making a life-altering decision.
I wonder if the youth that dedicated themselves to missions even remember that they came forward that night. As they left that intense weekend, did they still feel called? It seems like their commitment came hastily and with little thought to what God was planning for their lives. They felt pressure and were swept away with emotions. As I read this essay, I remembered that huge crowd of “future missionaries” and the pressure I felt to conform to the mass. Asking Christ into your life or deciding to be a missionary are huge life decisions. Yes, emotions play a role, but careful thought should play a greater role. Weighty decisions require more than peer pressure and emotions. Christ wants us to fully mean our promises to Him.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
I hate the "emotional atmosphere" that is created in the church. Sometimes I feel like it encourages hypocrisy. This whole situation Langston Hughes described is that "emotional atmosphere." Pastors have music played during prayers and make bold overly sentimental statements about following Christ. I even feel emotional in services to the point where I don't know what I feel it about. Is it really the Holy Spirit working in me or is it just the chords and statements blending into a crescendo that hits right at the bridge of the worship song making me want to fall on my knees? Is it honest or is it a false emotion?
I don't want to be an emotional follower of Christ. I want to be fully devoted to him. I don't want to follow Christ just because everyone is waiting for me to get up and do it. I am not sure how much is enough contemplation about salvation or if it is possible to simply know when you should decide to follow Christ. But, the overly emotional tactics that are used are enough to make any impressionable child lie at the alter.
I smiled when I read your posting, Jess, because I agree that I do not want to be an "emotional" Christian, but I have to say that red flags went up in my mind when I started to think about this whole manner. In relating to that, I believe the senses that God gave us is a huge part of our response to Him and His voice, but I also believe that what is most important to His heart is the attitude we have when we come before him. If it is all show, then of course it is not acceptable in His eyes. But if you see someone prostrate before him, I can't say that you or I or anyone else can judge what is going on in their heart.
Hughes' article invoked a multitude of feelings as my eyes went from line to line. The people that encouraged that boy to move forward ad "see" Jesus definitely need a reality check. I am afraid that too many churched in America are trying to prevent younger generations from live full of sin, but that strategy seems to drive them away from the one thing that truly matters. Instead of saving them by our means, maybe God is calling us to live as examples so that when these kids get to the point when they have to make that choice, they will not see a religious fanatic who will not miss a church service for anything. They will see a group of people devoted to living the call God has placed on our lives: freedom from everything in Christ.
Post a Comment