Top Shelf Cristianity

Top Shelf Christianity

Are we keeping the most important things on the top shelf? When we were little we would go to my Dutch grandma’s house. She had the habit of keeping the cookie jar on the top shelf to “control” the cookie distribution. Knowing our weakness for cookies it just seemed to be the right thing to do to keep things from getting out of control.

Have you noticed that some believers maintain a top shelf mentality in the way they ‘live out’ their Christianity before others? Some have experienced a major event or met a well known Christian personality and they share their story with everyone, it's sort of a ‘holy grail’ experience. Every time they talk about their walk with the Lord it is qualified by this big event that occurred many years earlier, usually something totally out of reach of the wide eyed hearers. Can these younger people even imagine ‘reaching’ for the kind of Christianity this well meaning believer is projecting before them? Others will seek to establish their own pecking order by boasting about who they have met and the special opportunities they have had to be personally mentored by ‘the best of the best’ to people that don’t even speak the same language of these popular Christian “icons”.

Aren’t we putting maturity in Christ and opportunities to grow in leadership beyond the reach of others when we boast of our unique and long gone opportunities? Do we give others the impression that beyond what they know, there exists a surreal Elite Christianity waiting to give them special certifications, if they can just experience the right kind of activity or meet and rub shoulders with the right popular personalities? Don’t get me wrong, I have been blessed by well known radio ministries and have even met some of these people. But I believe that it would be terribly wrong to wear these issues like a decorated general before those that I am discipling and try to WOW them with the idea that I have a special inside angle on Christianity because I met or was taught by ‘so and so’. It is almost as if were saying “just try to top THAT!”

The apostle Paul briefly referred to his big list of qualifications, his top shelf. He was even taught at the feet of Gamaliel, the super Pharisee of Pharisees. Someone unfamiliar with Christianity and reading this portion of the book of Philippians would almost begin to mouth the words “WOW! I am impressed! He’s a BIG one!” … when suddenly Paul throws all these colossal achievements into a tailspin and he says that he considers all these things to be as worthless as refuse (dung; in the KJV) compared to the supremacy of simply knowing Christ Jesus. In the book of 1 Corinthians when the believers are dividing themselves like out of control mathematicians over who their Big impressive leader of choice is, Paul tells them that he strived to teach them only about Christ, and him crucified. He even says that he is glad that he’s not one of the icons in their little hall of fame. It’s not about the underlings (us), it all about Gods man, the Son of Man, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the only one we should ever be putting up on a pedestal. Sometimes we toss names around like boys trading baseball cards, talking about their favorite sports stars. Vanity of vanities.

How much better and more effective would we be as preachers, teachers and disciplers if we would just stick with the Word, forget about our great achievements and impressive personality encounters, and strive to move others closer to the only person that will ever matter for them in all of eternity, the Lord Jesus Christ? Following Christ is so simple, even children can do it. Why do we insist on putting the blessed Lord on the top shelf beyond their reach, often hiding the stepping stool? Matthew 23 is a whole chapter dedicated to warning against a legitimate religion that had evolved into an ugly me-ism. The Lord Jesus cautioned us to beware of these tendencies; maybe we need to review this warning and be on guard for tendencies like these?

Colorado

The day before yesterday (May 29, 07) we drove from somewhere out West of Omaha, NE to Denver, CO on interstate 80. We knew that there would be rain with a chance of some thunderstorms. It was a nice day for driving for the first 2/3 of our trip, even hot and muggy until we got close to North Platte in South Western NE. We stopped by a couple of Weather and Information Rest Areas. The staff were asking the motorists about the weather from East and West of there. That seemed curious, I had hoped that they would be the information givers for our travels. At two of the Rest Areas they told us that their equimpment was not working. I was looking at the menacing sky and wondering what to do out on the road if we saw a tornado. I looked at an older couple that were dressed in their black cycle leathers and driving his and her Harley Davidsons, wondering if their leathers would shrink when they got wet. I was thinking of finding an overpass and trying to wedge the Suburban up underneath the overpass as high as possible for shelter. We were listening to the radio and every 10 minutes or so we heard weather alerts, but there were no tornadoes yet, just tornado watches for SW Nebraska and NE Colorado; pretty much the course of our planned travels for the afternoon.

As we entered NE Colorado a new alert was broadcast on the radio sighting two new tornados that had formed in the area South of where we were driving. The rain was coming in bands and the wind was laying down all the prarie grass pretty much horizontal. Grace had chosen this as the time to practice driving, heh! The car was a little hard to keep on the road with the heavy gusts & poor visibility. Linda kept reminding me that maybe I should drive during these life and death situations. I felt a little woozy from all the weaving and correcting at the helm.

Later that evening in our room in Denver we saw on the evening news that they were recieving a hail storm beating during our approach. The hail was as big as grapes in some areas, other areas were blanketed with 4" of the freezing stuff. Even the mountain dwellers of Denver were caught off guard. People were walking and slipping around in shorts and flip-flops trying to get to shelter during the sudden storm.