Global God

"Clap your hands, all you nations; shout to God with cries of joy. How awesome is the LORD Most High, the great King over all the earth!" Psalm 47:1-2

A lot of things would get fixed in our version of "Christianity" if we could really grab hold of the vastness of God.

God is the God over every nation, every government, every people group, and every culture on the face of the earth. We forget that to our detriment. Unfortunately, the American church can sometimes plunge into that sea of forgetfulness with reckless abandon. A brief glimpse of the Global God and His Global Church could fix some of that though - if we would let Him.

For every person that has ever complained about music styles or the length of a message in the American church, I would recommend going to Cuba and worshipping with the Church there.

For everyone who has ever argued over the color of the carpet in their church building or on the placement of flags or flowers, I would recommend going to China and worshipping with the Church there.

For everyone that has never even engaged in any aspect of ministry in their local body because they are so busy, I would love for them to spend some time in the sugar cane villages of the Dominican Republic and Haiti.

For those who have ever complained about the hot/cold temperature in their church building, I would love for them to worship for 3 hours in the church buildings of Ukraine or India (pick your temperature).

For those who have ever bellyached about the way people ought to dress in church, I wish they would be able to worship in Sierra Leone, Africa with the Church there.

I say all of these things not as a 'slam', but as a reminder. There is too much about the Americanized version of Christianity that really is meaningless. Some of the things that people actually discuss and debate in the American church would simply go away when brought into the light of the Global God and His Global Church. Sure, the gospel must be contextualized - the Incarnation of Jesus is proof enough of that point - but the gospel should never be trivialized in light of our all of our cultural conveniences and whims.

Sometimes, I wish Jesus would have just given us a prerequisite before we could actually be His followers - one that required that we see different expressions of God's Global Church. He didn't do that of course, but I can assure you it would benefit you to see His activity in a culture/people that are not like you and I.

Maybe He will call you to experience that, huh? Maybe He already has. Either way, if/when God does call you to that - it will benefit you....and ultimately benefit everyone around you because you will have a broader, more real, less trite idea of the Global God.