I Am Joe Fan

There are few things that get under my skin more than when there is a "news" piece on celebrities, whether its what they are doing, what they are wearing, where they are going, who they are divorcing, who they are marrying, who they are cheating on, what they are eating, what they aren't eating, what they are or aren't reading or watching, what they are owning and how they are "getting in touch with their roots."

It gets even worse when they do a piece on a specific person celebrity and say something like, "You know, she's just really high on life right now," or "He's just focusing on enjoying himself right now."

If you are having breakfast, join me in resolutely chewing slowly, so it still goes down. 

I'm not one of those people who don't like celebrities because of what they have vs. what I don't... I just think that their lives are, for the most part, a distraction from things that are more important. 

There are some things that are real, and some things that aren't.
There are some things that matter, and many things that do not. 

There are things last forever, and there are things that don't. 

A lot of times it's the don'ts that we see too easily.

This week at Mercy Hill, we're in Colossians 1:11... listening to Paul's desire for us... that we would be "...strengthened with all power according to His glorious might...", which on the surface looks as if it has nothing to do with celebrities. And maybe that's part of the point. 

We hear lots and lots about God strengthening us, God filling us with "the power of His Spirit", making us a way, getting us through, taking us somewhere and working in around and through us. And I utter many of these lines myself. I've taught with them, I've admonished with them, I've encouraged with them. I've whined over how much I can't stand this "Christian-eze" we speak. 

Let's be honest: somewhere deep down (or not so deep down), many of us at one time or another or many many times have wondered: where is all this power I keep hearing about? How real is this power and strength (that is supposedly mine) when the problems I am having, the goals there in front of me, the needs I am having are so very in my face?

And why is that whenever people try to explain to me God's Spirit and all the strength that is mine, I either walk away feeling like I've blown it somehow or that God is just leaving me out to dry?

Back to celebrities. 

This isn't really about celebrities. Don't think I am here to slam on you for that copy of People magazine in the basket by the TV. Celebrities just serve as a great illustration for how we get distracted by the dumbest of things. Not distraction in a confusion sort of way... but maybe more this: what draws my gaze? What sounds capture my ears? What momentum occupies my heart? 

Picture this: somewhere out there in the world, there is Joe Fan sitting there over a bowl of cereal directing their eyes, ears, minds, hearts and lifestyles towards the stars they see on the big screen, or on the field, or in the magazine... Joe Fan has that eager and fully consumed stare wondering about someone else's privileged life. 

He is a metaphor for anyone whose gaze has been pulled away in an unimportant direction. I'm on this list. You're probably on it too. For you, celebrities are most likely not the problem. I mean I say I am not distracted by them, but I am annoyed by the distraction over them, so I might in fact be distracted.

Anyway.

Maybe you, like me are simply distracted:

By how you physically or emotionally feel in the moment.

Or how little you feel. 

Or how much you think. 

Or how wounded you've been in the past.  

Or maybe you are distracted by the details. 

Or by all your fears.

Or by all your accomplishments and how strong you think you are.

Or maybe you are occupied by the thought of what people think. 

Or maybe you are overwhelmed by desire. Or lust. Or anger. 

Or maybe you just simply believe that you deserve whatever. 

Nearly all the time I need to be reminded: that in contrast to the big story of God saving the universe, up against the backdrop of this God-Man-Savior-part of the Trinity and what He's done for me personally and for everyone who ever lived... I am often like Joe Fan. The attention of my eyes, ears, my heart is easily drawn away from what is real and what is happening around me. 

Very practically. 

And so.

I misunderstand the unexpected ways that He strengthens me. 

I don't see the doors that the power of God opens for me. 

I ignore the sometimes obvious ways His Spirit guides me. 

Our lives are altogether spiritual. So it stands to reason that when the tangible is happening, whipping out the tangible toolbox of tricks that we've always used will only get us to the places we've already been. Which begs some questions:

Has my spiritual life up to this point been nothing more than calling on and waiting for God to fix me, wondering why He doesn't fix me, being wounded because He doesn't fix me? Then maybe it's time to see more spiritually than this. 

Has my spiritual life up to this point been nothing more than seeing the things that I own, have, accomplish, or make for myself as the results of God's power? Then maybe it's time to see more spiritually than this. 

Has my spiritual life up to this point been nothing more than feeling good, cool or blessed by a 75 minute session on Sunday, and then filling my life with everything tangible I can get my hands on, and then calling it God's grace? Then maybe its time I see more spiritually than this. 

Once again, our lives are altogether spiritual. Let's spend some on this at Mercy Hill. 

We can be strengthened by God. 

We can be empowered by Him (though I still cringe when I hear Christian-ese). 

We can be guided by His Spirit living in us. 

We can see. 

We can hear. 

We can sense and live in, through and from Him. 

Not perfectly, but that's the point. 

We're all going to get distracted. 

Even by the celebrities. 

"And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins." - Colossians 1:10-13