Don't Run Ahead

Published: Sept. 30, 2021, 6 a.m.

Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in the teaching of Christ does not have God; whoever continues in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. (2 John 9)

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There are always more interesting spiritualities to pursue than Christianity.\xa0 Better marketed materials, more influential influencers, more catchy songs, more immersive rituals, more directive applications.\xa0

Over these past years, you\u2019ve perhaps since this too.\xa0 Things long taboo or fringe have begun finding their way back into mainstream channels: dabblers in wicca, observers of the solstice, wearers of Thor\u2019s hammer.\xa0 And that\u2019s coming along beside larger movements into religious practices that already were mainstream: like Buddhism, Hinduism, etc.\xa0

What marks off our age as different than previous ones however, is that people are sampling religious practices in the same way they do their shopping: mix and match.\xa0 Trying out some practices from one religion, taking teachings from a guru in another, and creating out of it their own sense of an authentic spirituality for them.\xa0 Everything in our Western World today has a seemingly equal claim to legitimacy if someone finds value in it, and all the world\u2019s history and practices can be ripped from context to suit to taste.

Christians do this too.\xa0 Gone are the days that someone commits to one local church of one denomination.\xa0 Most of you listening to this have read, watched, or listened to Christian content that came from somewhere other than the Christian Reformed Church or Immanuel CRC.\xa0 Whether a sermon, music, a devotional or Bible Study, etc.\xa0 And, increasingly, we don\u2019t stop at historically Christian practices or content.\xa0 We also entertain practices that come from beyond.\xa0 Like the uptake of Yoga in recent decades, as one more benign example (which is something that I believe, with Paul, can be received and practiced with thanks to God\u2014see Romans 14 for more on that).

But, in a world where all the boundaries have become blurry, and where we are increasingly immersed in a huge, swirling variety of practices and teachings stripped from their religious contexts, where does one draw the lines?

Well, John gives a simple answer which sounds strangely familiar to the one we heard in our devotion yesterday.\xa0 It\u2019s basically this: continue in the teaching of Jesus Christ.\xa0 Don\u2019t run ahead thinking that you need to add something to your spirituality to spice it up or make it more effective or authentic just because everyone else is these days.\xa0 No, Jesus Christ and him alone is enough.\xa0 If you have Christ, then you already have everything.\xa0 You don\u2019t have to search further.\xa0 You can lean all your weight on him.\xa0

It\u2019s a hard thing to do these days, but to dwell with Christ\u2014him alone\u2014and trust in his promises, is the heart of the Christian faith.

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