Arthur M. Casci Testimony

[OBW]

Originally Posted by Amcasci

The obsession with the "new and fresh" or "the next big thing" blinds one to the ordinary and obvious work of Christ that is ours each day.

I can say "amen" to that. It seems to me that even so much of the rhetoric I get outside the LCM is linked to being something in the kingdom. If you don't at least go on a short-term mission trip you are spiritually deficient. Spiritual life is about religious things. And so on. We are constantly taught that not being engaged in these outwardly religious activities is the equivalent of falling away. The "task" of living normal lives according to Christ is not given much press, yet it would seem that it is one of the primary ways that Christians outside of "leadership" express their faith.

And I note that when I point this way, there is generally someone who decides that I am just grumpy rather than realizing that we don't have to be fresh, joyous, and bubbly to be everything that we are intended to be. Or that I am just picking on the LCM. Surely they are in there. But they are not alone.

[Amcasci]

Originally Posted by OBW

I can say "amen" to that. It seems to me that even so much of the rhetoric I get outside the LCM is linked to being something in the kingdom. If you don't at least go on a short-term mission trip you are spiritually deficient. Spiritual life is about religious things. And so on. We are constantly taught that not being engaged in these outwardly religious activities is the equivalent of falling away. The "task" of living normal lives according to Christ is not given much press, yet it would seem that it is one of the primary ways that Christians outside of "leadership" express their faith.

And I note that when I point this way, there is generally someone who decides that I am just grumpy rather than realizing that we don't have to be fresh, joyous, and bubbly to be everything that we are intended to be. Or that I am just picking on the LCM. Surely they are in there. But they are not alone.

OBW...you got it. It is not just in the LC gatherings. It is a deep sickness in American Evangelicalism that we have to be doing the big thing. I like the statement, "James and John wanted to rule; Jesus wanted someone to wash the dishes!" Husbands love your wives, do whatever you do as unto the Lord with thanksgiving, children obey your parents and on it goes. Look at the "vocation" sections of Ephesians and Colossians and the list of vocations is very ordinary. Very few are called to be the Bible translator, etc. Most of us are people who go to work day after day and thus serve our Lord and our neighbor.