7/7 Thursday Thoughts

Excerpt from Spiderman: "with great power, comes great responsibility"

Excerpt from the Bible: "the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked" (Luke 12:48)

Because of the striking similarity in idea...I will refer this cohesively as the "Spiderman Gospel"....

The Spiderman Gospel is something I've heard a lot of....especially at Christian conferences that targeted college students with limitless potential....

Sure, it has biblical basis...and is further substantiated by the Parable of the Talents...but will emphasizing this sort of stewardship...encourage us to become performance-based Christians who lose touch with the true Gospel?  Will we become too concerned with gaining an earthly platform to become influential Christians only to be stuck in the rat race?  Will we become obsessed with God doubling our 10 talents?  Or on the opposite end of the spectrum...will we live in fear that God might punish us for burying what he has given us in the ground?

These compelling questions make me want to throw out the Spiderman Gospel.  I think we currently live in an era of Christianity that tells us that it's okay to be mediocre....

But unfortunately...we think it's okay to be mediocre in our spiritual lives as well.  I'm sure many of us know exactly what we need to improve on in our walk with God...but do we feel a burning desire to rectify these issues?  When we know that God wants us to resolve our conflicts with others, do we take that seriously enough to throw down all our pride and do whatever it takes to fix them?  This mediocrity is not acceptable...because while mediocrity by the world's standards is fine, we should live by God's standards and not accept mediocrity...even though we know we're not perfect...

At the end of the day, I can't tell you to disregard the Spiderman Gospel.  I think we WILL be held accountable for what we did or didn't do while on Earth...I don't doubt this one bit...

But as for being performance driven...let us remember the heart of stewardship.  Giving can be difficult...but usually it's because we feel a sense of entitlement to whatever that thing is.  If I realize that all the money I have is because of God in the first place...then it's easy to give.  If I realize that the time and abilities that I have were given to me by God (and can be taken away just as easily), then it's easy to want to use that time and ability to serve him.  So, while great power does come with great responsibility...remember that it came from God and not some radioactive spider bite.