Today’s Scripture Reading (February 20, 2018): Acts 22
We
get asked the question almost every day – Who are you? And to be honest, there
is seldom a simple answer. Today the question was asked as I sat in a chair
getting my hair cut. The amazing lady who was cutting my hair already knew some
of the answers to the question. I was the guy who waited fourteen weeks since
my last haircut (I didn’t even know that it had been that long.) She amazed me
when she asked me if I had put my summer car away yet, apparently I had mentioned
it fourteen weeks ago when she last cut my hair. She even knew what it was,
because her next question was “what color is your Mustang?” She knew that I was
a grandfather of three, and that the youngest of my grandchildren were twins. I
have to admit that I was more than a little amazed, to my knowledge I have only
met her twice – today and fourteen weeks ago. Then she asked me if I owned my
own company. When I replied that I was a pastor, it was her turn to be a little
taken back. Apparently, in her world, pastors didn’t wear colorful Star Wars
shirts like the one that I had on. But even with all of the information that we
exchanged over the all-important question of “who am I,” I am not sure that we
ever got down to the core answer. I am Garry, a slightly obsessive male of the
human species who is in love with the world around him – although admittedly
the world doesn’t often seem to want to return that love. I am an often
confused traveler trying to find his way home. I am broken. But I am also the child
of the King, and I am convinced that God loves me even when no one else seems
to be up to that endeavor. And maybe even this only scratches the surface of
who I am.
Paul
begins to recount in his trial who he is and how he came to be here in the
first place. Paul had been zealous for his God. He had acted exactly as he
believed that his God had demanded. And up until this point he had been
confident that his actions matched up well
with the one who he had believed to be his God. But in a moment all of that
seemed to change. Maybe for the first time in years,
Paul was willing to ask the grand question – who are you. Lord? And not only
was Saul willing to ask the question, but he was willing to hear the answer.
The
question itself is only a starting place – but it is a question that I believe
needs to be asked continually because it
is so easy for us to find our way into tangents that carry us away from the
true identity of God. As I look around at my world, the most prevalent problem
that I see is that many of us have simply stopped asking the question. Within
the Christian community, I watch many organizations and belief systems chase
after their God in the same way that Paul chased after his. And, just like Paul,
there seems to be little acknowledgment that they might be wrong – in fact,
they are sure that they are not. So they follow their path and pursue their
goals, never even considering whether or not they are serving the one true God.
And
it isn’t just within the Christian Community that the struggle to know God is being abandoned. The opponents of Christianity
seem to miss the identity of God as well,
but maybe that should be expected – after all
if we as Christians have stopped asking the question, why should they start
asking it? Every time I sit down to read something written by Richard Dawkins,
my overwhelming reaction is that “I am glad you don’t believe in that God because I don’t believe in him either.”
Maybe
the right course of action is just to step back
from all of our protestations and arguments and allow God to answer this
basic question that Paul asks – who are you, Lord? And to remain quiet enough
for God to speak the answer.
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Acts 23
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