CityView Magazine

faith & Christianity is Backwards and Upside Down I By Rev. Dan Algers have two sons under seven. One is a bit more, shall we say, "challenging" to raise than the other. He has a quick temper, a highly competitive spirit and a tendency to handle things aggressively and physically when grace and diplomacy are more in order. I am sure that he inherited all of these things from his mother (if you know my gentle and serene wife, you know that is a joke). My take on parenting, which we have discussed in this column before, is that we should be fathers to our children the way that God is a Father to us. That means grace, mercy and love, but also truth and justice. I am trying to raise my children by instilling the wisdom of God as laid out in the Bible as the best way to live. So, here are some things I have had to say to my youngest son this week: "If you would just try to look out for the needs of others before yourself, you'd have a lot less frustration in your life" and "Life is not all about you, it is not about you getting what you want, or everything being fair for you. It is about generosity, humility and finding identity in things other than our stuff." I admit some of that was lost on my 5-year-old, but if our kids are going to turn out different from the culture, we need to raise them different from the culture. Here is the lesson that I have learned this week: all of those things that I said to my son to change his attitude and perspective, I should also say to myself. "Dan, if you would stop finding your identity in stuff and comfort, you would have less frustration and anxiety in your life." "Dan, this life is not all about you, why don't you try looking out for others before yourself for a change." "Dan, I don't care what everyone else 14 | August • 2013 is doing, you've been raised differently than that." You see, Christianity is backwards and upside down. Jesus said crazy things like "in order to keep your life, you have to lose it." He even said "If anyone wants to be my disciple he has to pick up his cross daily and follow me." Christianity is about dying to ourselves in order to live for God and others. It is about a deep infatuation with God that brings about a complete reorientation of our priorities, purposes and behaviors. It is about a heart that pursues the things of God first, before our own comfort and glory. Amazingly and seemingly counter-intuitively, God promises, that it is in this upside down and backwards life that we find a true joy that we couldn't find in all of the other stuff we've been chasing and the type of life we have been living. Too often Christianity in our day has become about enhancing this life rather than giving this one up to pursue a life greater and more abundant. That is why Christians have become hypocritical and ineffective at bringing change to the world. We need to stop and reevaluate. I need to live by what I'm trying to teach my son, because this is what God, my Father, has taught me: following Jesus is a call to a life radically different from the world, and that means sacrifice and an outward, rather than inward, orientation. I am thankful that at the heart of Christianity is the grace of Christ that covers our sins as I fall so very short of this mark. I am comforted deeply by knowing that my Father is patiently raising me with the protection, love and dedication that I am attempting to show towards my son. And like my son, I think I need to go sit in the corner and think about these things for awhile. CV The Rev. Dan Alger was a Pastor in Fayetteville for over 10 years and can be reached at dan@rdmr.net.

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