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This
article appears courtesy of Rev
Magazine.
Wired for God
by Dan Kimball
“First, I want to thank God,” or “Without
Jesus, none of this would have been possible!”
In our current climate of pop-spirituality, it’s
become commonplace to hear musicians and actors give credit
to God or Jesus at every turn. God is thanked so often
now that this past year, while the credits rolled on the
MTV Music Awards, a white-haired deity figure directed
a session in a sound studio. The producers jokingly surmised
that God must be there with the musicians as they record
their music since they thank him so much.
The interesting thing, however, is that often just prior
to crediting God, these same artists have performed a
song that either demeans women, promotes violence, or
glorifies sexual promiscuity. It seems that the fashionability
of talking about God is greater than that of actually
living in obedience to the God of the Scripture.
Even so, God is definitely “in.” A few months
ago, Britney Spears proudly told the press that her boyfriend,
Justin Timberlake, had given her a copy of Conversations
With God. Last year more than 16 million people watched
the Peter Jennings special The Search for Jesus. Deepak
Chopra was recently featured in Rolling Stone magazine
promoting his latest book How to Know God. Visit any non-Christian
bookstore and you’ll find plenty of books about
God, Jesus, and developing a spiritual life. Unfortunately,
the “god” found on these pages is often far
different from the God of the Bible.
This search for spirituality shouldn’t surprise
us. A recent Newsweek cover story told us that our brains
are “wired for God.” We were designed to long
for communion with our Creator. Rather than criticizing
the culture for its misrepresentation of theology, let’s
take advantage of this current openness to spiritual things.
Let’s have the courage to break out of our Christian
subculture, so that the next time we see someone on stage
thanking “Jesus,” we can pray their hearts
and lives might reflect him as well. Let’s consider
how our churches might be used to transform the hearts
of new generations who are “wired for God.”
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