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Different Strokes for Different
Folks?
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Needless to say, I am not the ultimate work that human society
has ever seen.
Though I strive to please God, understand Him and maintain a
balance in life, I will never be completely successful.
Because I recognize this incompleteness, I realize that the views,
beliefs and methods of others though different than my own are not
necessarily wrong. I also realize that views and beliefs are not
necessarily right, either (though I believe them to be at present
or I would not hold them).
This column was written in conjunction with an article on the
media arts that I have worked on for the past year. (MediaArts)
One lesson that I learned while writing and rewriting and occasionally
researching this story was that God can and will use people with
goatees.
The reason I chose goatees is nothing special. I could have chosen
long hair, earrings, dyed hair, sideburns or a matching shirt and
tie - basically, anything that is different from the way I present
myself.
I am, by nature, a conservative person. I will never pierce my
ears, grow long hair or grow sideburns. I am quite satisfied with
the color and texture of my hair. When I do something funky with
my hair, I part it on the other side or comb it.
For what I am called to do, my tastes fit me perfectly (i.e.,
a future in the business and political world). But there are many
people that I will not be able to reach because of the type of person
that I am.
That is why God has made each and every one of us unique.
This same logic holds true for methods as well.
It seems that most of the arguments that I have heard battered
about in the church have been regarding the methods that are used.
There are camps that condemn the use of a rock beat in music.
Others attack the use of television. Some demand that every meeting
end with an altar call while others command strict conformity to
outward appearances.
If there is a method used in the church, then there is a group
that supports it and another that opposes it.
It is a shame that we fight so many trivial battles over the
methods that we forget the message: "God so loved the world
. . . " To be understood, one must first attempt to understand.
Jesus told his disciples, when they were questioning the works
of others, that you can judge a man's works by his fruit.
He emphasized the importance of fruit, not the method of planting.
Keith Green, in an article he wrote defending his use of "rock
music," said that motives, not methods, were what influenced
the fruit.
God anoints the man whose heart is completely His, not the man
who knows all of the tricks.
There is a saying: "A man's morality will dictate his theology."
The truth of this saying may also imply that "a man's taste
will dictate his theology."
It is very harmful to the unity of the body of Christ when someone
who doesn't like rap music says that it is, therefore, ungodly (unless,
of course, it is being played loudly - which is the only way rap
can be played, apparently - by your neighbor at two o'clock in the
morning). Or when someone who doesn't care for a goatee, per se,
says that is the sign of the devil himself (again, I apologize).
If you get a chance to read the article on the media arts I would
encourage you to do so. I wrote the article because I was struggling
with these very issues. I won't say that I am totally comfortable
with some of what I feel are excesses in the arts, but I can trust
God that He is using them nonetheless.
In conclusion, I am reminded of Great Britain before World War
II. During this time there was a lot of division in England. Every
Thom, Dyck and Harrie had an opinion and felt compelled to speak
it forth. When the war came, the one Winston Churchill had prophesied,
Britain was caught totally off-guard.
Fortunately, as prime minister, Churchill was able to unite the
United Kingdom against the Nazis.
Division ceased as the English people realized that they were
now involved in a real war with real bombs and real death.
I hope that in a similar way the church will realize that we
are in a real war.
When that realization sinks in, we can unite and come together,
with or without our goatees, to accomplish the task.
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