You could say there's a fine line between the God room philosophy and insanity. You could, but not only is it cliche, it's also untrue. God room is genuine insanity. That's why you rarely see God room being lived out among Christians. It's just too crazy. Bob Pierce didn't start this crazy theory, though; those who follow God have lived by it from the beginning of time. The apostle Paul writes: "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for, and certain of what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for" (Hebrews 11:1-2). People have been living on faith in God forever, doing everything they possibly can, but trusting God to do the rest (which always a lot).
However, we're teenagers, and that means old dead people mean little to us. Yes, that was a joke, but seriously, it's helpful to actually see people living on God room. I think about one of the camp directors I interviewed over the summer, Bob Warren. His camp is not affiliated with any association. That means that he doesn't receive money from an association to run his camp. He never knows what he's going to make in a year; he's literally at the mercy of God. Amazingly, though, everything at his multi-facility camp is paid for. Well, it's amazing if we doubt God, but it's normal if we live by God room.
When I think of God room that I've seen in action, I also think of prayer. I can remember praying for things like crazy. I remember begging God to help someone or do something in my life, and I remember being surprised when He answered my prayer. I keep forgetting that God wants to help His children.
Unfortunately, I don't live by faith like I should. Too often I set goals based on what I think I can do. I wonder what I would do if I set goals based on what God could do. I hate living in organized, predictable routines, so God room appeals to me. I guess I just have to start practicing it.
Mazal tov
Pretty nice post. This is a good post to start a philosphical debate or something. It sounded all deep and mentally challening. I love it.
ReplyDeleteWhy is it that everyone who has a reputation for living on God room named Bob?
ReplyDeleteI really like this post! Great job David!!
ReplyDeleteGreat post, David. Challenging, indeed!
ReplyDeleteSo, Mr. DaveJeffPow, what can you do to grow your own faith? What's one or two obvious steps that you can see right now that would grow your faith?
ReplyDeleteOk, I feel discussy now. I think one obvious step would be to just randomly go up to people and evangelize. I've done it before, felt God telling me to do it again, and seen amazing results from it. I think if we just do the uncomfortable things God asks us to do we'd be a lot happier and have a lot more faith.
ReplyDeleteThere's complete truth in that. I keep thinking to when we evangelized to Tyler and to the girl in the park during VBS. Those were neat experiences. It's too bad I haven't done much to remember in the last 6 months. That's what school will do to your holy fire lol. All those neat and interesting conversations we had at summer camp with random people on the beach... it makes me wanna go do that right now, ya know? From the eldery man that Malcolm and I talked to, to the green haired fellow that had been kicked out of a church because of his hair, to the girls who said you had pretty eyes, to the Middle Eastern man who was not happy. Very cool convos in which Jesus' light was shone, even if it wasn't accepted.
ReplyDeleteI love this post! Great Job, David.
ReplyDeleteLauren, what other Bobs have a reputation for living out God Room?
ReplyDeleteThat is, until Taylor Swift comes in and ruins your conversations...
ReplyDeleteShe really didn't ruin it that badly. The kid named Tyler had already become saved and we were just talking about spiritual stuff. We were waiting on his two friends to come, and Taylor arrived right after they did. Actually, the only reason we got to talk to Tyler was because he was hanging out, waiting on his friends. His friends were half a hour late, which is just enough time for us to evangelize. But overall, that was a great day. Everytime I've evangelized, I've remembered it and I've learned from it. I wish I did it more. But I'm slowly changing that.
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