“I never want to become a closed system. I never want to feel like I have it all figured out. . . . to quit trying new things. Why? Because God didn’t just create us with the capacity to think. He created us with the capacity to rethink.”- Mark Batterson
As Mark Batterson continues Chapter 7 of Primal, he asserts that the church should exhibit the most creativity on the planet. Many churches, Pastor Batterson believes, at best display ambivalence toward creativity. Hence, Mark wonders if this neutral stance stems from a false definition of faithfulness.
Therefore, the author first stresses that faithfulness is not doing it the way it’s always been done, holding the fort, or defending the status quo. Rather, faithfulness is:
- the courage to incarnate the gospel in creative ways
- experimenting with new ways of doing discipleship
- playing offense for the kingdom, even if some Pharisees find it offensive
Consequently, Mark emphasizes, we need the freedom to experiment, to dream God-sized dreams and take God-sized risks. Yet, you certainly don’t want to be different just for difference’s sake. Instead, come to terms with your true identity. While trying to be yourself involves more challenge, it’s also more fulfilling.
In conclusion, Pastor Batterson asks, when did you last thank God for your metacognitive system? That’s the ability to think about how you think. Thus, loving God with all your mind consists not only of thinking, but also of rethinking. And, Mark believes, this affects our interaction with the current culture. He explains:
“As salt and light, we cannot afford to take potshots at our culture from the comfortable confines of our Christian subculture. If we are to regain our prophetic voice in our culture, the next generation needs to be unleashed to pursue creative callings with missionary zeal.”
Today’s question: How do you use your God-created capacity to rethink? Please share.
Tomorrow’s blog: “A place way beyond reasonableness”
