It didn't take me long after finishing Blue Like Jazz, by Donald Miller, to decide to read the sequel Searching For God Knows What. As I expected, Miller's second book is just as amazing as his first. Throughout the book, Miller has been developing the idea that there is no formula for Christianity. A lot of people write books and give sermons as if there is a certain step-by-step formula to follow for the purpose that we may truly be obedient to God or know that we are in His will. And, to be honest, that seems to be what people want. We want a "formula" religion so we can have it all under control, know our goals, be certain when we have reached those goals, and know what to do from there. If Christianity was a simple formula, we would know for sure that we have hit everything we are supposed to and that we are on the right track. We would have everything under control... including God.
But the Truth is, that's not what Christianity should be all about. God is a person, someone we can get to know. He is not a computer or circus monkey that waits for us to hit everything on the list. The deal is, we are afraid to have a relationship with God because that requires intimacy - telling the inside's of our souls, exposing our weaknesses, revealing our inadequacies... - to someone we can't even see. How scary is that?!
We don't want relationship... it's too complicated. We want formulas. Or, at least we think we do. Yet, if Christianity could be boiled down to a simple formula, I'm pretty sure Jesus would have figured it out and told us; a.k.a., there is no formula. You get to know God just like you would get to know any person. Christianity is about relationship and there is no way to graph or formulize this relationship. All I can say is that it starts with getting to know Him... everything else will progress from there.
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