I just got done watching the newest promotional video from Rob Bell for his new book, How to be Here. It was all about you finding your purpose. You putting your sacred energies to use. You creating your own world. Your own life. Shaping and forming it as you see fit. Then I turned around and read these words in my daily devotional reading from Deuteronomy 6:5, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might." This is the commandment God gave Moses to teach His people. With it came the promise that if they would follow the command, it would go well with them and they would be blessed.
In his book, Justification, theologian NT Wright contrasts the image of a "geo-centric" universe with a "helio-centric" one. Some, like Rob Bell, believe the world revolves around us just like some folks, pre-Galileo, believed the earth was the center of the universe. All of life experience seems to confirm this to be true just like when we wake up in the morning we see the sun "rising" in the east. But Christians believe differently. Despite what our senses tell us. Despite what life experience seems to teach us. We believe our world revolves around God just as the earth revolves around the sun. Galileo, of course, discovered this with a telescope. Christians discover this by reading the Bible.
Finding one's purpose in life is NOT seeking my own happiness, creating my own world, finding my own fulfillment. Instead, it is to live Coram Deo. Before the face of God. In the presence of God. Under the authority of God. To the glory of God. That is another way of describing what Moses was talking to the Israelites about in his sermon. Love the Lord your God. That is your highest purpose. Love Him with all your heart, soul, and mind. That is your highest calling. Love Him above your spouse. Above your children. Above your work. Above your hobbies. Above your money. Above your lifestyle. Above yourself! As you do this, know that you will find your happiness. You will find your fulfillment. You will find your peace.
It isn't easy. It wasn't intended to be. God either gets it all or He gets nothing. He doesn't leave us the choice to accessorize our life with a little Jesus. As if I can live my life the way I choose and "season" it from time to time with some Jesus. Like He's there to give my life a little spiritual flavor. God is not some spice. Some condiment. Some add-on to life. He is the Life. And finding Life in Him requires us to give Him everything. All that we are. All that we have. All that we find our identity in. He must become our supreme love. Our supreme joy. Our supreme peace. That is why all efforts to pass off pop psychology and self-help as Christianity will ultimately fail. Because they do not teach us the truth about ourselves. We were created to love God and enjoy Him forever. Full stop. Period. End of sentence. Any message that does not ultimately drive this truth home is simply not the gospel.
#sorrynotsorry Rob Bell.