Stinging criticisms
“One of the most stinging criticisms made against Christians is that their minds are narrow and their hearts small.”
- A.W. Tozer, The Root of the Righteous
Personally, I think that I'm willing to disagree with this quote on the basis that we all kind of want to be in the "narrow road", referring to that passage in the Bible (Matthew 7:13-14). I once saw a shirt that said, "I'm narrow-minded" and then the verse at the bottom. So maybe I'm brain-washed. I think I wouldn't mind labeling myself narrow-minded, because I know I'm referring to a Bible verse. But there's a danger of misleading someone because of that, so I will am not willing to risk it.
I think there's something to be said about the truth being narrow though. I've been reading Ravi Zacharias for my leisure reading recently (nosebleed), and I just want to quote something he said regarding truth.
"I came to Him as a stranger. I remain with Him in the most intimate of friendships. I came to Him unsure about the future. I remain with Him certain about my destiny. I came amid the thunderous cries of a culture that has three hundred and thirty million deities. I remain with Him knowing that truth cannot be all-inclusive. Truth by definition excludes."
By three hundred and thirty million deities, Mr. Zacharias - a native of India - means Hinduism. I was really supposed to stop there already, but I'll continue with the quote anyway.
"You hear it a thousand times and more growing up in the East - 'We all come through different routes and end up in the same place.' But I say to you, God is not a place or an experience or a feeling. Pluralistic cultures are beguiled by the cosmetically courteous idea that sincerity or privilege of birth is all that counts and that truth is subject to the beholder. In no other discipline of life can one be so naive as to claim inherited belief or insistent belief as the sole determiner of truth. Why, then, do we make the catastrophic error of thinking that all religions are right and that it does not matter whether the claims they make are objectively true?
All religions are not the same. All religions do not point to God. All religions do not say that all religions are the same. At the heart of every religion is an uncompromising commitment to a particular way of defining who God is or is not and accordingly, of defining life's purpose.
Anyone who claims that all religions are the same betrays not only an ignorance of all religions but also a caricatured view of even the best-known ones. Every religion at its core is exclusive."
-Ravi Zacharias, Jesus Among Other Gods
Mainly my point is that if you're telling the truth (in love, in love), then I think there's no sting in being labeled as narrow-minded. I haven't looked at all the angles to that, though, so maybe I'm wrong. Right now as I'm typing this, I'm just thinking that since Jesus is the truth, I shouldn't have to feel criticized when people call me narrow-minded for not thinking that Buddha, Confucius, or Allah is the truth, too. And no, God does not equal Buddha, nor Confucius Allah, nor Allah Buddha. See for yourself.
I'm digressing though. (I digress too much.)
My first reaction upon reading A.W. Tozer's quote was that I really have to keep giving God back my heart so that it could become bigger. I feel like my heart is very small, to be honest. It's very small, and sometimes very slow, and sometimes quite silly, actually. Ang haba pa ng sinabi ko, noh? All I wanted to say was that we should all strive to grow a heart that is big because it is overflowing with God's love and grace and mercy. But I have a very small heart, and I recognize this, and I hope He continues to work at it.
Heart, grow big, grow big!
Grow deep, grow deep, too, please.
We always say that God looks at the heart.
Sometimes I feel like maybe He'd be left a little wanting with the state of my mine, though.
But at least I know, that even with my heart's many failings, it still belongs to Him. =)
3 Let love and faithfulness never leave you;
bind them around your neck,
write them on the tablet of your heart.
- Proverbs 3:3
9 I proclaim righteousness in the great assembly;
I do not seal my lips,
as you know, O LORD.
10 I do not hide your righteousness in my heart;
I speak of your faithfulness and salvation.
I do not conceal your love and your truth
from the great assembly.
11 Do not withhold your mercy from me, O LORD;
may your love and your truth always protect me.
- Psalm 40: 9-11