Christian Clichés
Where God guides, God provides
If God brings you to it, He will bring you through it.
The greatest distance in the universe is the eighteen inches between your head and your heart.
You can’t outgive God!
We are saved by faith alone but not by a faith that is alone.
When God closes a door, He opens a window
Man meant it for evil, but God meant it for good
Do not forsake the assembling of yourselves together.
A Bible that’s falling apart usually belongs to someone who isn’t.
God said it. I believe it. That settles it.
This is a ch-ch. What’s missing? U R.”
“I’ll pray about it.”
Today’s Cliché I want to talk about is heard not only among church people, as a matter of fact, but I also hear it a lot from non-church people and that is...
When there’s a tragedy, a crisis,
Our thoughts and prayers are with all the affected people.
This past week we had several tragedies in our country. One hit close to home in Gilroy, another one in El Paso, TX, in Ohio, and since mass killings consist of 4 people or more, the one with a man with a knife killing 4 people in Garden Grove, CA (didn’t make the headlines).
One of the phrases that we hear in response to these and many other events is “our thoughts and prayers” are with you.
Usually, these words are used when either we don’t know how to respond or we are not really listening to what is truly being said. To be fair some really mean it, while others just say it because...
We don’t like awkward silence when we feel like we have to say something.
Someone shares with you something very personal, a struggle, some news that makes you uncomfortable, so we look for easy answers that have somehow worked in the past but may not necessarily fit in this situation.
“... There is ... something about the sacred that makes us uneasy. We don't like being in the dark, not knowing what to do. And so we attempt to domesticate the mystery, explain it, probe it, name and use it. "Blasphemy" is the term we use for these verbal transgressions of the sacred, these violations of the holy: taking God's name in vain, dishonoring sacred time and place, reducing God to gossip and chatter. Uncomfortable with the mystery, we try to banish it with clichés.” - Eugene Petersen
Jesus Responds To struggling disciples
Matthew 8:26 NIV
26 He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.
How do we respond when someone shows a lack of faith?
He rebukes the problem and lets us know how to confront the problem
in this case (there are too many to cite) they were afraid because they didn’t really know who was with them.
there’s was a growing faith and Jesus let’s them know that.
But Jesus does this in the context of a relationship that he already had with these men. A relationship of trust where he could tell them the truth in love.
Do we repeat Jesus’ words or do we acknowledge that we too lack faith at times, and that it’s hard to have faith when you’re in the middle of the storm, and that you too have gone through that.
If you haven’t gone through that you will be tempted to say things that you have heard.
There’s nothing like taking a course in Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE).
EVERY WORD IS SCRUTINIZED
“Why did you say that?” “How do you know that?” “Why did you respond the way you did?”
What does that mean to you?
Think of what you felt when that person said something that you didn’t know what to do?
Did you feel upset, nervous, confused, etc?
Why did you feel that way?
Why did I freeze?
Or… why did I say what I said so fast without thinking about how what I said may have been heard by the other person.
Prayer
Matthew 6:5 NIV
5 “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.
What are you praying for when you tell someone you’re going to pray for them?
when someone got shot/killed?
when a natural disaster takes life and property?
when a terrorist rams airplanes into buildings killing 3,000+
Suddenly everybody says they’ll pray for us. I say I’ll pray for them.
If you pray for comfort, how can you comfort them?
If you pray for peace, how can you bring peace to that person?
Practice what you pray
Practice what you think
What are “our thoughts”?
Isaiah 55:8–9 NIV
8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord.
9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
So, my thoughts are not the same as the thoughts that God has
How does being in someone’s thoughts really help us? It’s just knowing that someone is thinking of me
Does that comfort me? Only if I know about it.
You will be in my thoughts
Call them and let them know that they have been on your mind and that’s why you called.
You have to reach out to these people and let them know that you ARE thinking of them.
If you’re sitting on your couch, standing in the shower, driving your car thinking of someone, but you never call them, visit them, what good would that do? What good are your thoughts if there is no action on those thoughts?
your thoughts should prompt you to pray for others
?
Psalm 13:2 NIV
2 How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and day after day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me?
?
Psalm 55:2 NIV
2 hear me and answer me. My thoughts trouble me and I am distraught
?
Psalm 139:23 NIV
23 Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.
Steps to Christ
?
Steps to Christ Chapter 11—The Privilege of Prayer
Let the soul be drawn out and upward, that God may grant us a breath of the heavenly atmosphere. We may keep so near to God that in every unexpected trial our thoughts will turn to Him as naturally as the flower turns to the sun.
Do Something!
Be the answer to the thoughts you have, the prayer you pray
Send love and compassion, hug, be present,
Spend time with those closest to you
Be a good example
Jesus did something - he gave his life, paid the ultimate price so that we would not fall prey to the greatest criminal, who is out like a roaring lion, seeking to devour us.
Jesus didn’t just that he was thinking of us and praying for us
Jesus came to our neighborhood (planet) and lifted up the downtrodden? with his life as expressed in the gospels.
He gave hope to the hopeless by healing and speaking life.
Let’s speak words of healing and that are full of life
If we catch ourselves just repeating words that are just platitudes/clichés, this is an opportunity for us to examine ourselves and draw closer to God, understand grace, mercy and to be honest with ourselves that we too are afraid or without words and that we too need to experience that same comfort and peace.
this week when someone tells you something that you think requires you to say something spiritual or comforting, think about what you are going to say and why you are going to say it, pray and ask God what to do and respond accordingly. Your words may not seem very eloquent, but as long as they are sincere, honest and with a true desire to sympathize, empathize with the pain and suffering of others.
