Missing The Point
Below is an article that I have read from Wayne Cordeiro's book entitled "The Divine Mentor". It is really powerful and has spoken to me greatly. Hope it will do the same to your heart as well.
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F.Kefa Sempangi’s great book called A Distance Grief alerts us to the fact that we can miss the point. Sempangi endured Idi Amin’s horrific dictatorship during Uganda’s oppressive past. As a young minister, he witnessed the persecutions and slayings of many believers. His friends would disappear, and whole villages were massacred. To escape the maltreatment, he fled with his family to the United States.
There he and his wife, Penina, enrolled in a seminary to further train for ministry. As time passed, so did the constant fears they’d lived under for years. The tension and anxieties that had become the norm of their existence slowly became a thing of the past, and they began to have a new calm and security.
Sempangi writes:
Our first semester passed quickly. Penina gave birth to our son, Dawudi Babumba. In the fall, I returned to my studies. It was then, in my second year that I noticed the change that had come into my life. In Uganda, Penina and I read the bible for hope and life. We read to hear God’s promises, to hear His commands and obey them. There had been no time for argument and no time for religious discrepancies or doubts.
Now, in the security of a new life and with the reality of death fading from mind, I found myself reading the Scripture to analyze texts and speculate about meaning. I came to enjoy abstract theological discussions with my fellow students and, while these discussions were intellectually refreshing, it wasn’t long before our fellowship revolved around ideas rather than the work of God in our lives. It was not the blood of Christ that gave us unity, but our agreement on doctrinal issues. We came together not for confession and forgiveness, but for debate.
We cannot miss the point. It is not the program but the progress that changes our hearts as we sit with the Master. This is not an end in itself but a means to the likeness and the mind of Christ. Look closely to Him, not to snag information about Him. Listen for His voice, not for a new idea. Catch the heart of God, and be slow to espouse new information until it bleeds out your toes. Let it sink in first. It’s food for your soul before it’s fodder for your ideas.
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F.Kefa Sempangi’s great book called A Distance Grief alerts us to the fact that we can miss the point. Sempangi endured Idi Amin’s horrific dictatorship during Uganda’s oppressive past. As a young minister, he witnessed the persecutions and slayings of many believers. His friends would disappear, and whole villages were massacred. To escape the maltreatment, he fled with his family to the United States.
There he and his wife, Penina, enrolled in a seminary to further train for ministry. As time passed, so did the constant fears they’d lived under for years. The tension and anxieties that had become the norm of their existence slowly became a thing of the past, and they began to have a new calm and security.
Sempangi writes:
Our first semester passed quickly. Penina gave birth to our son, Dawudi Babumba. In the fall, I returned to my studies. It was then, in my second year that I noticed the change that had come into my life. In Uganda, Penina and I read the bible for hope and life. We read to hear God’s promises, to hear His commands and obey them. There had been no time for argument and no time for religious discrepancies or doubts.
Now, in the security of a new life and with the reality of death fading from mind, I found myself reading the Scripture to analyze texts and speculate about meaning. I came to enjoy abstract theological discussions with my fellow students and, while these discussions were intellectually refreshing, it wasn’t long before our fellowship revolved around ideas rather than the work of God in our lives. It was not the blood of Christ that gave us unity, but our agreement on doctrinal issues. We came together not for confession and forgiveness, but for debate.
We cannot miss the point. It is not the program but the progress that changes our hearts as we sit with the Master. This is not an end in itself but a means to the likeness and the mind of Christ. Look closely to Him, not to snag information about Him. Listen for His voice, not for a new idea. Catch the heart of God, and be slow to espouse new information until it bleeds out your toes. Let it sink in first. It’s food for your soul before it’s fodder for your ideas.
posted by Jeff Chong at 4:29 pm
5 Comments:
Hi ps jeff,
Cannot help but notice you also read and listen to Wayne Corderio. He is also on of my fav preacher.
Not sure if you know this but he have regular free podcast of his sermons which i download regularly from itune.
Adrian
Jeremiah 6:16 [This is what the LORD says: "Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls. But you said, 'We will not walk in it.']
Hey Adrian, I enjoyed learning from Wayne becuase I can sense his heart for God and people. He has, what Hope terms as, a good spirit!
Yup! Go watch one of his sermons- Pressured- http://www.enewhope.org/video/videolisting.php
Inspiring and empowering stemmed from the word!
will certainly check it out andrew...
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