Heart Tracks - The New Normal

"Normally it takes only eleven days to travel from Mt. Sinai to Kadesh-barnea, going by way of Mt. Seir. But forty years after the Israelites left Mt. Sinai, on a day in mid-winter, Moses gave these speeches to the Israelites....." Deuteronomy 1:2

"The New Normal." That's a term that's being heard in the church increasingly these days. I realize its origins in that it is the church's attempt at understanding the current state of both the culture around, and within it as well. The crux of it all is that what was considered normal both within and without in the past, is no longer considered such today. My concern is how are we really responding to this "new normal?" A lot of what I seem to be hearing, intended or not, is that of seeking to adapt to this new normal, and minister as effectively as we can. This seems to put a great deal of emphasis on our own strength and understanding. Here's my question, is the power of the three in One God affected in anyway by change in our culture and whatever labels we may care to put upon that change? We have been hearing for some time now that we need to "change our methods, but not our message." But is that really the approach we've been taking. E.M. Bounds says God is not seeking for better methods, but "better men." And women. Men and women who can be made "better" only through the transforming power of the Gospel. The whole, full, unabridged Gospel of Christ.

In the passage from Deuteronomy quoted above, Moses is speaking of the fact that though the journey to the border of the country promised them by the Father should only have taken eleven days, they had instead spent forty years wandering in the wilderness. Wandering because of their refusal to believe, trust, and obey God. Their ongoing history would be one of almost constant rebellion and unbelief against their God. Wandering in the wilderness would become their "new normal." It was never what the Father intended for them, but it became their lot. The new normal for the people of Israel would become lives, homes, a nation, built upon sand. Always near collapse. To me, our current culture, nation, and state of the church seem eerily close to the same. Someone said that the church is not to be a thermometer, reflecting the spiritual temperature of the culture it is a part of, but a thermostat, setting that temperature for the culture. I think it is very plain that we have become far more like a thermometer than a thermostat.

Vance Havner, speaking decades ago concerning the American church said that anyone living like a "normal" 1st century companion of Christ, would be considered abnormal by the contemporary church of today. Francis Chan tells the story of his being reprimanded by a member of his congregation for being too over the top in his walk with Him. He was told that there was a "middle ground" that he could and should walk. He needn't be a fanatic about it all. Friends, you can be sure that to seek a life filled with His holy fire will most surely result in your being labeled, like Chan, a fanatic. It's much easier to accommodate the culture...the new normal. Even when it means another forty years in the desert.

I think a lot of the "new normal's" way is for the church, you and me, to ask God and His Word to conform themselves to us and our lifestyle. God's normal, shown in the call of His Son, Jesus Christ, is to take up our cross, follow Him, and die to everything that is not Him. That's what's normal in the Kingdom. Anything else will bring nothing but desert wanderings. What "normal" are we living today? Are we living in the fullness of His Promise, or just wandering?

Blessings,
Pastor O