Puritanhead
Puritan Board Professor
The perils of being a creepy old Christian and losing your \"passion\"
That reminds me: Why do older folks mistake a loss of passion for spiritual maturity?
An attorney friend of mine who has critiqued some of my writings from time-to-time, offered me this prudent exhortation:
Our focus as believers seeking maturation in our Christian walk should not be losing our passion, but directing it towards a more God-centered focus as we shake off the stubborn tenacity of youth, and discover how to better pick our fights and our doctrinal affirmations and how we let Christianity shape our thought patterns and life as we grow in wisdom. Granted, our weapons are not carnal, and our fight is not against flesh and blood... They never were.
(While I strongly emphasize I am speaking of no one in particular on the PB,) too often a sizable lot of you older Christian folks mistake resignation and non-engagement with the world for spiritual maturation. Every now and then, an intellectual brushfire needs to be set somewhere, but most of you older folks have neither the gumption nor the passion to spark such fires. Why? Because you don't have any passion. You lost it, as you got older, and you naively mistake it as an indicator of spiritual progress and growth in character.
It's probably no surprise that these same folks leave evangelism to us twenty-somethings, as they profess more pressing concerns. Ironically, a mature believer is better equipped to evangelize and avoid misguided youthful approaches to evangelism. You guys are without excuse.
P.S. If you are mature in character than these above statements should not offend you old folks who drink prune-juice and carry an AARP card. Deep down, you know its true.
:bigsmile:
[Edited on 7-16-2006 by Puritanhead]
Originally posted by Scott Bushey
You are young and spry; God will use you one day in a larger fashion.
That reminds me: Why do older folks mistake a loss of passion for spiritual maturity?
An attorney friend of mine who has critiqued some of my writings from time-to-time, offered me this prudent exhortation:
Outside of my Bible readings, this is the wisest thing I have heard all summer. I think he is on to something. I see a lot of passion in young twenty-somethings on the board like Jacob Aitken and Gabriel Martini. That they stand by the courage of their convictions is admirable as well.By the way, while working on sanctification and kicking youthful impulses, be careful about not kicking out passion. I've been thinking lately how hard the world tries to kill passion for the Truth. Too many older Christians have a defeated outlook that they mistake for maturity. As [John] Knox has shown, there is a place for mature and well directed passion. It scares people and it probably should.
Our focus as believers seeking maturation in our Christian walk should not be losing our passion, but directing it towards a more God-centered focus as we shake off the stubborn tenacity of youth, and discover how to better pick our fights and our doctrinal affirmations and how we let Christianity shape our thought patterns and life as we grow in wisdom. Granted, our weapons are not carnal, and our fight is not against flesh and blood... They never were.
(While I strongly emphasize I am speaking of no one in particular on the PB,) too often a sizable lot of you older Christian folks mistake resignation and non-engagement with the world for spiritual maturation. Every now and then, an intellectual brushfire needs to be set somewhere, but most of you older folks have neither the gumption nor the passion to spark such fires. Why? Because you don't have any passion. You lost it, as you got older, and you naively mistake it as an indicator of spiritual progress and growth in character.
It's probably no surprise that these same folks leave evangelism to us twenty-somethings, as they profess more pressing concerns. Ironically, a mature believer is better equipped to evangelize and avoid misguided youthful approaches to evangelism. You guys are without excuse.
P.S. If you are mature in character than these above statements should not offend you old folks who drink prune-juice and carry an AARP card. Deep down, you know its true.
:bigsmile:
[Edited on 7-16-2006 by Puritanhead]