One of my biggest struggles as a Christian is the idea that, just because I know my savior, it doesn’t mean I am better than anyone else.

Sometimes, I see the way some people act, hear what some people say, or read what people think, and all I can think of is, “Man… I’m glad I’m not like him!”

This is sinful thinking, and when it comes up, I try to rebuke it if I notice it. It hasn’t been happening much lately, but sometimes it just hurts to see what some people put themselves through. And that kind of attitude doesn’t help at all.

Jesus told a parable of two men who went to the temple to pray. One was a pharisee (a Jewish leader who took a very legalistic approach to the interpretation of scripture), and the other was a tax collector (a Jewish man who betrayed his people to live a Roman lifestyle). The pharisee stood up to pray, and said,

“God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of men… extortioners… unrighteous… adulterers… or even like this tax collector! I fast twice a week and I tithe from everything I receive!”

But the tax collector, who was standing far away, wouldn’t even look up to the heavens, but beat his breast, saying

“God, have mercy on me, a sinner!”

Jesus continued, saying, that it was the tax collector that went back to his home justified, rather than the pharisee. “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled and everyone who humbles himself will be exalted.”

I would rather be in the shoes of tax collector. He was exalted for his humility. He knew that he needed God. The pharisee was humbled because he exalted himself. He didn’t need God. He had his own righteousness feeding his ego.

I remember church reformer, Shane Claiborne talking about his encounter with a homeless man. Shane recalled the man grumbling and complaining about Christians, saying, “Those Christians (grumble grumble grumble)…” but when he would mention Jesus, he would form a giant smile on his face. He would grumble and complain about Christians some more, and then, with a smile on his face, begin talking about Jesus again.
Shane asked him what he thought about Christians.
“A Christian is someone who has his shit together. That’s not me” the homeless man would say.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t have my “shit” together. None of us do. And I’m happy we don’t. Because someone came to tell me that it’s ok that I’m not perfect. If I’m giving it my all, that’s enough. That person was the perfect example of what it looks like to have everything together… and what he taught us was this: It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.
And He came to heal the sick.

Once we start thinking that we have everything together and that we are better than anyone else, for any reason, we put ourselves in a dangerous place. If you ever catch yourself in that dangerous place, it’s important to ask yourself “If I have it all together, why do I need Christ?”

I hate sounding self-righteous, so to start this off, I think it’s appropriate to announce that I don’t have all the answers. I don’t know what causes the world to work the way it does and I don’t have a map of the human psyche… I am just in this game, and I intend on playing through it with my best guesses… and that’s all I use. I live my life by faith, simply because I don’t know enough to get by on anything else. I would be an ignorant fool if I tried living by what I know.

That was a long intro but this isn’t about my faith. This is about all the stuff I’ve been reading lately about Islam.

I’ll start with this:

A few weeks before my grandpa passed away, he and I were having a conversation about the war on terror. He never knew that I was a pacifist, but he knew my searching heart well and knew that I was a young man full of questions.
During that conversation, I mentioned, “Not all Muslims are extremists. Islam is a peaceful religion.”
My grandpa looked at me. He was a man with wisdom in his eyes, though I didn’t agree with everything he believed. He said after that, “Jimmy, have you ever read the Qur’an?”
“Well… no… but…” I started to explain.
“Well I have” he interrupted. “Maybe many Muslims live peacefully, but they aren’t living by their book.”

I didn’t know what to say. He did read the Qur’an. I know that. And I also know that I didn’t. I couldn’t argue with him. I had to give in. And that was that.
My grandpa spent a great deal of time in Saudi Arabia in the early 80′s. He worked with many of them and befriended many of them… but he would always tell me stories of how he could not trust many of the Arabs. He saw many people lying hurt on the side of the street while people walked past them and even robbed them. He saw many people being taken advantage of, and he received many glares for being an American in Saudi Arabia.
Not that it’s excusable, but that’s just how my grandpa was. I’ve heard it many times. “I could not trust the Arabs, Jimmy.”
I once told my wife about that and she agreed. After visiting India for a month, she learned that in the middle east, they live by the idea that it is ok to lie if your intention is to get what you want. Even the Christians in India live this way. It’s just a part of their life and a part of their culture.
And that’s what my grandpa saw in the Arabian culture.

This isn’t embedded racism that many people from his time had. My grandpa wasn’t racist. I, of all people would know. But he did generalize. If he saw how the Arabs acted across seas, he would determine that certain character traits are inherited, and thus many Arabs in the US would be the same way. You see these generalizations here all the time. You have many people assume that Liberals are Godless and Conservatives are closed-minded. You have the people who think all Christians try to force their belief on others, and the people who think that all atheists try to force their belief on others… And the ones who typically call out generalizations as racism or prejudice, are normally the first ones to tell you that what they believe is right and what you believe is idiotic. Self-righteousness at it’s best. See… even I make generalizations.

Now, all that isn’t to say that I think that my grandpa is right. I’m also not saying he’s wrong either. I’m just saying that there are a lot of differences in this world… and if we get hung up on them, we become very bitter people. I’m not going to agree with everyone’s way of life… but I can accept it and move on. To each his own, right?

It’s been so disheartening lately, seeing all the negative posts about Islam. In the last few weeks, we’ve read it all. Should they build a mosque at ground zero? Is it ok to burn the Qur’an in protest? Why is it ok for every religion to get bashed except for Islam? Is it ok that we haven’t forgiven the Muslim’s for what they did to the US on September 11th 2001? All of this is ridiculous. And the reactions to these posts are just as bad! I’ve seen commentators flip the negativity back onto the posters of these blogs… acting in self-righteousness… it’s pathetic.
Do you want to know if the US has forgiven the Muslims for what they did on 9/11? Well… it’s really hard to tell, but generally speaking, no. But we must. Otherwise, we will destroy ourselves from the inside.
If you want to know if we can win the war on terror, I think we’ve found our answer in the way we treat our own brothers and sisters in this country. These “United” States.

So where do we go from here?
We recognize our differences, we examine ourselves, we lean on what we believe, and then we move on. No bitterness. No retaliation. Just forward motion.

I was listening to a fairly prominent conservative talk radio host the other night, as I was driving home from a concert. He was talking about God. He didn’t narrow down the conversation any more than that. He just wanted to take calls and talk about God.

One thing he said that caught my attention was that all a religion needs is one philosophy: “Loving your neighbor as yourself”. He said, “That philosophy sounds very good to me” as if that is the way to reach salvation. I was a bit agitated by this… Sure I believe in loving my neighbor, but that isn’t the point to religion at all. That is a benefit from religion. The point is to serve something bigger than yourself. I believe that something is God.

This radio host said that he isn’t particularly religious, so I can’t be too upset with him. After all, how can he understand what the Spirit hasn’t unveiled to him?

There is a problem when we start thinking that religion (particularly Christianity) is about ourselves. When did it become about how we can feel better about ourselves? Christianity isn’t about comfort. Not at all… we are supposed to discipline ourselves, not so we can feel better about ourselves, but so we can better obey God- so we can show the world a piece of heaven. Ultimately, it’s about Christ. Nothing we do is for ourselves. Nothing we do is for others. It is all about how we are serving Christ.

It’s a dangerous idea, that Christianity should be about anything else. Worship is maximizing God and minimizing man. Once we forget that, we open the door to a whole world of problems.

What is your philosophy on religion?

Donald Miller is the author of great books like “Blue Like Jazz”, “Searching for God Knows What”, and “A Million Miles In a Thousand Years”. All of these books have changed my life in some way. “Blue Like Jazz” helped me to question evangelism the way I recognized it, giving me a broader, yet more narrowed interpretation on how we are to serve as witnesses of Christ to the least and the lost.

“A Million Miles In a Thousand Years” on the other hand, helped me to realize that God gave this life for a reason, and that I only go through this whole thing once and then I die, so I’d better make the best of my time. This is the book that inspired me to propose to my wife. You can read that story here.

About a year ago, I saw Donald Miller at the National Youth Workers Convention in Cincinnati. While there, he spoke about his new book. At the end of his talk, we went into a time of Q&A.

Now, at this time, the book had only been out for a month. I was lucky enough to get to read it before it came out. So, during Q&A, I got to do a nice plug for his book, letting Don know that it inspired me to propose to my wife and that his books had changed my life.

He was overjoyed and gave my wife and I a nice message when we asked him to sign our book.

Not everyone gets the chance to tell their heroes how they’ve inspired them… but I did.

Who are some of your heroes and how have they inspired you?

I have another funny story about a different encounter with Donald Miller that you can read here.

It’s my beautiful wife’s 23rd birthday! Go wish her a happy one if you get the chance!

t_sheffield.xanga.com

“I think we’ll go with a little ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, gentlemen.”

“Good call!”

God has a way of turning things upside down. This is why I am always asking God if I am really seeking his will.

After high school, my plan was to go to school to become an actor. I’ve always wanted to be an actor. I’m not sure how good I’d be, but I certainly wanted it. But halfway through my first year of college, I had my first calling to ministry.

God was telling me to be a youth pastor. I gained this one day after reading the bible during my lunch hour at school. I don’t remember what verse it was, but what got me is how little I knew… I was ashamed and I could only blame my youth leader back when I was in high school. You see, she’s a great lady, but she wasn’t a good teacher. She was great with getting programs set in place through the year, but she was lacking in teaching us what it actually meant to be a Christian.

I thought, what if other kids have the same problem I did with their youth leader? That isn’t fair to them. Maybe I’ll be a youth leader and assure this won’t happen to at least a few students out there.

So, from the time I was 18 to the time I was 24, I’ve been pursuing Youth Ministry. It’s been a rewarding experience, and I would never take this time for granted. Lately however, I feel the Holy Spirit pushing me toward prison ministry… which is something sort of unexpected for me. I’ve never been a criminal. I’ve never known many criminals. I don’t even know how to reach out to criminals… but the one thing I do know is that they are no less deserving of God’s grace than me. And I’m certain that not many of them have been told that.

Currently, I am in the process for candidacy to become a licensed local pastor for the United Methodist Church. I told those that interviewed me that I wanted to do youth ministry, but now that I’m second guessing, I may just tell them that I’d like to be a prison chaplain. We’ll see how it all works out. Either way, I just want to be used by God… no matter where that leads me…

What do you want to do with your life?

I’m pretty glad I don’t have superpowers. I don’t think I am meant to have that kind of control.

• I don’t want to be able to read other people’s mind. I’m afraid of what they think.
• I don’t want to have super strength. I’m known to have an ego and I would not like it to get worse than it already is.
• I don’t want telekinesis. I think it would cause more harm than good.
• I don’t want to have x-ray vision. Should be self-explanatory. 
• I don’t want super speed. I hate running. If man was meant to run, we wouldn’t be at the top of the food chain, as far as I’m concerned.
• I don’t want to fly. I’m afraid of heights (well, not terribly, but what if I lost control? Ah!)

However, it would be pretty cool to have quick healing abilities (like Wolverine in “X-Men”). But I would rather use that ability on other people and not myself.

It seems to me that the idea of superpowers stems from mankind’s inner God complex. We like the idea that we can control our surroundings. I don’t know if I can handle that kind of power.

If some of us had superpowers, I think life would be boring. I love superheros. I wouldn’t want to ruin the magic we’ve been given through them.

If you could have superpowers, would you have them? How would you use them?

(By the way, sorry for the cliché post. I’m just killing time before I have to go to work)

I can understand why people wouldn’t want the mosque to be built at ground zero. I can understand the questions raised. I can understand that it could seem disrespectful. I can understand that a mosque in the area could get people on edge and strike fear into the hearts of many non-Muslim people.

Of course, with the understanding that most Muslims are not extremists like Al Qeada or the Taliban, the arguments against building the mosque are quite silly. I mean, do people really believe that Muslims want to build it in that area to gloat about and celebrate the death of 3,000 Americans? Well… I doubt that’s their agenda. This is their home too.

Muslims are legally zoned to build a mosque in that area just like Christians would be legally zoned to build a church. Remember, this isn’t a Christian nation. It’s a nation for those who want freedom… that includes the freedom to build a mosque in a controversial area. Don’t like it? Well then I’d think twice about how great it is to have freedom of religion in this country. This is the kind of stuff that happens.

I believe that the Bible shows universal truth. It points to Christ, who is, himself, universal truth. Some people, however, can’t see the truth even if (He) was staring at them in the face. Christ is there for all to cling to, but only few will accept him. That’s also a universal truth.

Another truth is that our eyes cannot be opened to Christ unless God himself opens our eyes. This is why we have those who reject scripture, reject the church, and reject Christ. Their eyes have not been opened to the truth of Christ and their hearts have been hardened. These people will never accept this universal truth that scripture has to offer until their eyes have been opened.

Now for us, who’s eyes have been opened, who’s hearts are softened, who’ve had the burdens of sin and death lifted from them, we were given scripture. It helps us build our community with other believers. It gives us the history of our faith. It paints the only picture of the Godhead that we know of. And of course, it gives us guidelines on how to live a holy and pleasing life.

These are all ideas that everybody can and should use. However, as I’ve said before, only few will accept the universal truth of scripture.

Now, although the bible is something everyone can learn from, it is a book of the Christian faith. It is not a book of the Muslim’s faith, nor the atheist’s, nor the Buddhists, nor any other religion. It is our book that teaches us how to live to please God. It teaches us how the body of Christ is to act, live, believe, and be. There is absolutely nothing of interest to a nonbeliever in there. Why? Well… because although the truth applies to them, they’ve rejected it. It is not their book of faith.

This is why I have a hard time forcing biblical mandates on those outside the church. They don’t want it. They’ve rejected the God of universal truth and they are cursed to wander in the darkness. Thank God He made us to be bearers of the light that is Christ so that they may have some hope! Now bearing the light does not mean we force the light on those cursed to wander in the dark. Like moths to a burning flame, those in the dark are naturally attracted to the light. It’s a beautiful light that helps all to see. It shows us the way. And when we search for that way, God will soften our hearts. He will remove the scales from our eyes, and we will see His full Glory!

…but if we force the light on those who’ve rejected him, we burn them… and we burn them bad. This is because God is completely Holy. He is set apart. He is sinless and perfect. And when we come to Jesus, when we call on his name, we are cleansed of all that makes us unholy. We are able to carry the flame without getting burned. Now, we may make mistakes, but because we’ve acknowledged His sacrifice we have a redeemer and a perfecter who says, “Come to me. You are washed in my blood. This is why I died for you.” What a cleansing! But those who’ve not accepted him have not been washed clean. They can’t handle the light God wants us to bear. But you can certainly show them your light… how beautiful it is… how freeing it is… how healing it is… how perfect it is… how loving it is… how accepting it is… how merciful it is… how bright it is…

This is the nature of truth. This is the nature of God; that bright light shining in the darkness. God draws others in naturally. He searches for them, and sends us out as bearers of this light. And when they get close enough, God will soften their hearts. God will open their eyes so they can see this light better. This isn’t our power. It’s God’s.