Why Is It Too Hard To Simply Sit At His Feet In Humility And Feed Of Him.
Martha Martha, you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed-or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better and it will not be taken away from her. Jesus was categorical about the best place and posture for a believer to be safe on matters of God. Humility at the feet of Jesus and the readiness to be taught of Him, is what Mary chose and there’s a lot to learn of Him than there is to teach others. There is always a tendency to try and figure things out for ourselves and for lack of humility and a readiness to learn. We have a zeal to serve God yet, we are not as keen and careful to humble ourselves and allow God to lead us and its easy to enter into error and to mislead others. Apostle Paul admonishes Timothy his son in the faith, to give diligence to present himself approved unto God, a workman that needs not be ashamed, handling aright the word of truth. While I find Ross Douthat rather negative in his analysis of the state of church in America, I believe he has to a great extent painted a semblance of part of the church. It reminds me of Elijah’s assertion that he was the only prophet in Israel but God tells him that he has another 7000 people in Israel who have not compromised their faith. The church is alive and strong but the more visible part of the church is not necessarily the true picture of the state of the American church, I believe that, there are true believers in the church today that are not confused as Douthat implies in his book, “bad religion”.
On a positive note, Ross Douthat is optimistic in concluding that the church always resurrects every time after a time of decline. In the history of the church, there has always been people that have erred from the right doctrine and mislead others and the church has experienced periods of decline, but church still rises up and lives on. It always takes the believers that are faithful to call on God in prayer and to persist in the right doctrine and spiritual discipline to keep the vitality of the church even in the face of such decline or errant doctrinal challenges. It is the believers that will take the posture of Mary of humility, readiness to learn from our Lord Jesus and in their consistency in the faith, that will keep the light of the Gospel shining as the city on a hill that cannot be hidden. I believe that our focus should be on God and the work that He is doing in our time rather that be distracted by the wrong doctrines and their peddlers. Douthat paints too negative a pictures and assumes that the whole church of Jesus Christ is in error which is not true.
In respect of the church always resurrecting, Douthat suggests that Christians from outside America are likely to be instrumental in bringing revival and cites examples of where this is already happening, with South Koreans doing missions in the US. Douthat quotes Phillip Jenkin’s 2002 book Next Christendom, “by the end of twenty-first century, the real heartlands of Christian belief, will no longer be in Europe and North America; they’ll be in Nigeria and Brazil, in Mexico and Uganda, and perhaps in China as well”. This is an interesting development in the church where missionaries will come from the countries that traditionally have received missionaries from Europe and North America. It might as well be the time for the southern Hemisphere countries turn to give back to Europe and North America, this is evidently happening already.
About the Author
Wallace Kamau
Wallace is a believer in Christ, Married to Mary Kamau (Founder and Executive Director of Missions of Hope International) and father to 3 Wonderful children, Imani Kamau (Graduate student at London School of Economics, UK), Victory Kamau (Undergraduate student at Portland state University, Oregon, USA) and David Kamau ( Grade student at Rosslyn Academy). Founder and Director, Missions of Hope International (www.mohiafrica.org), CPA, BAchelor of Commerce (Accounting) from University of Nairobi, Masters of Arts (Leadership) from Pan African Christian University.5 responses to “Why Is It Too Hard To Simply Sit At His Feet In Humility And Feed Of Him.”
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Thank you, Wallace, for pointing out that most of the church is doing the work of Jesus Christ, as they have been for centuries. We have to press on to the high mark of the calling of Jesus Christ! I guess I would ask Douthat one questions with regard to the Next Christendom, how will Nigerians, Mexicans, Ugandans, and Brazilians share the gospel in the US with the current immigration policies in place, which are hostile to all of the aforementioned countries? Something to think about!
Thank you Mary, one of the very interesting facts is that policies may be put in place, but they cannot close out the Holy Spirit from doing His work, immigrant Christians on mission will still find their way into North America just like they’re finding their way into China and the Asia despite their hostility to Christian missionaries. I’ve always marveled at how mission work is being done by market place missionaries in “closed countries”.
Thank you, Wallace. I have read stats recently placing America as one of the highest missionary “receiving” nations. Jenkins work on “The Next Christendom” is very insightful and I do think Douthat is right on that point.
I also agree with you that the most visible part of the church is what Douthat described as the heresies, but there is a silent but strong church in America that is actually growing per recent research. Our missions director just sent this article link to several of us:
http://thefederalist.com/2018/01/22/new-harvard-research-says-u-s-christianity-not-shrinking-growing-stronger/
Thank you, Wallace, for bringing us back to the reality that God is up to some great things around the globe. I agree with what Douthat has to see on this point.
Tammy, thank you for the link. Though I am frustrated by some of the practices and pitfalls I see in the American church, I am also encouraged by the rumblings of what is happening on a grassroots level. These may not be the ministries highlighted by media, but they are the seeds of renewal in America.
Thank you Tammy for the article, its interesting how the negative things are more visible than the good, we’ve a Swahili saying that goes, “the good quality item does not need to be advertised to get a buyer, but you’ve to heavily advertise the poor quality item to get a buyer”. It’s no wonder that the heretics are so visible.