Where does our hope lie?

Nate's latest post at The Jesus Paradigm is really good. Sure, he's my son, but that's not why I'm commending his recent posts so highly. They're just plain insightful, convicting, and, well, damn straight!

Anyway, in this post Nate lists the many things that can tend to replace Jesus in the life of a Jesus-follower. As Chesterton said, when we abandon the big God, many little gods rush into the vacuum. That's what has happened among charismatic Christians (of which I count myself one). Nate's list of "little gods" is really quite interesting, and I'm tempted to quote the whole thing, but won't. Here, however, is a sample. Things in which we have placed our hope rather than centering it squarely on Jesus Christ:

• Supernatural experiences
• Long, loud prayers and the people who pray them, especially when substance is scarce
• Your image as one who is "not religious"
• The latest ministry or outpouring of the Spirit
• Worship music and preaching that ignore Christ and the Gospel
• Behaviors that are expected from worshippers
• Instantaneous results
• Dubious "heaven-moving" prayers and the theology that there is automatically some divine, invisible transaction going on, or anointing being released because you're praying in a loud, specially worded manner.
  

It's because of widespread errors like these that the church is so easily led astray. Further down the list, here's one of my favorites:

• Fear of the demonic. If you're inventing elaborate schemes to ward off demons, you're afraid of them, and if you're afraid of them, you don't fear God. If, and only if, you think it has power over you, then it does. (Harry Potter anyone?)

And this gem:

• Fear of legalism. If you're worried about being legalistic, you should do something perceived as legalistic(you heard me) so that other people will think you're legalistic, and you will begin to care less about their opinions.

Heh. There's a lot more, and you'll probably find yourself brought up short by a couple of them, as you find yourself on that list. "Hey, wait a minute . . . "

Nate's summary statement is this:

I think the whole issue can be summed up in one simple word: JESUS. You forgot about him, and now you're paying the price. Every bullet point above speaks to a lack of knowledge of the real Jesus. There is nothing in the Bible that is not about Jesus. There is nothing the Spirit does in your life that is not about Jesus. Legitimate ministries, prophets, and outpourings exist to lift up Jesus.

Methinks Nate is right on.