I Feel Like Wrestling God This Week

Not too sure why... but this week I'm just feeling particularly fired up about a whole bunch of different things! Maybe it's because I'm speaking in our Adult Sunday School next week then preaching on July 1st (and I have NO CLUE what I'm talking about at either of those!). Maybe it's because I'm reading too many books on discipleship and evangelism. Or maybe I'm reading too many blogs from Pastors who are struggling with different issues in their churches.

When I get like this I tend to want to wrestle with God over these issues that are running around my skull. In Genesis 32 we read about Jacob wrestling all night long with God. During the match, God threw Jacob's hip out of joint and then He blessed him.

So sure... maybe God is going to have to take out my hip while I wrestle over this with Him... but I know that His blessing afterwards will be well worth it! :-)

So what issues am I wrestling with? A bunch. This is not directly related to any particular church or ministry... when I say "the church" I'm being very general... Most of this has come out of books, blogs, podcasts, conversations and emails. Here's what I'm wrestling with this week:
  1. Why does God allow the church to pray for a spiritual revival yet they don't even talk to their neighbour?
  2. Why does God allow us to "play church" instead of "being the church"?
  3. Why does God allow the church to criticize whether the teaching is "deep" enough when thousands right outside the door don't know the first thing about Jesus?
  4. Why in a church of a thousand members does God only send 10 people to a prayer evening?
  5. Why does God allow Christians to be so busy that they don't even notice the marriage that is falling apart in the pew beside them?
  6. Why does God allow Christians to be so busy that they don't even notice their OWN lives falling apart?
  7. Why does God allow so many kids who are raised in the church to never come back as adults?
  8. Does the church REALLY care about the lost??
  9. Does the church REALLY believe in loving kindness and good deeds??
  10. When we stand before Jesus on the day of Judgement will the church hear the words "HYPOCRITES" or "BROOD OF VIPERS"?

This is really just the short list. Funny... I really do already know the answer to all of these questions. But I still feel like wrestling over them.

I guess this could be what Bill Hybels calls that Holy Discontent :-)

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