| | I honestly can't stand watching talk shows, but I know a lot of people like Oprah. I had no idea she had started some sort of new age following, but I can't say I'm surprised by what I saw here.
Since the period I watched her show semi-regularly well over a decade or so ago, one of the things that has always stuck out to me about her brand of spirituality is that she thinks God is jealous of her. She said on that episode that she could not understand how a God could be jealous of the things she has or who she is. She explains in the above video that hearing that God was jealous was what got her seeking a deeper spirituality. TO HER, as she says in the online class highlighted on YouTube, God is not jealous; the god she defines is loving.
The problem? Her understanding is all wrong! God's not jealous of what we have. He owns it. He's not jealous of who we are. He made us. He IS jealous FOR us. He wants us to give freely to Him everything He has given us--including our time. He wants our praise; for who else is worthy? He wants us to be His friend, and He even sent His Son to die so that could happen.
How much more loving can you get? No man has greater love than to give up his life for his friends. Yet this is what Jesus--the One that Oprah has publicly denied as the One Way--did for us. In denying the One True God because He does not love enough, Oprah and millions of followers deny themselves the opportunity to have a deep relationship with the giver of the Greatest Love.
A Call to Churches
From this we can see the need for churches to direct people in how to experience a deeper relationship with God. You see, Oprah is not alone in her longing. Many people have grown up in church only to walk away seeking something deeper. Yet that "something deeper" seems enigmatic until God Himself invites a person to experience Him in a greater way.
We as disciple-makers need to be teaching people that God is always at work. We need to be casting visions of where we see God at work in order to help develop the Spiritual eyes of those who cannot yet see. We need to be explaining to the people that God's invitation to join Him in His work will come. We need to be preparing people to say "yes" to God when He reveals His work and to expect opposition that will challenge their convictions to do that work.
When disciples are experiencing God in such a way, they will no longer yearn for anything deeper elsewhere because they know that the well of the True God runs deeper than anything they can imagine.
For Starters
There are a lot of books out there aimed at helping people get closer to God. My top recommendation for teaching God's Church the principles that will lead them to a deeper relationship with God are taught in the study Experiencing God: Knowing and Doing the Will of God. No one can go through this book and not be changed.
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| | Posted 4/2/2008 1:01 PM - 56 Views - 2 eProps - 1 Comment
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