Reflections on yesterday’s post:
As this blog has developed, I’ve tried to avoid slipping into the Reformed Christian Blog Ghetto. That is, I’ve tried to avoid posting content that is that is only understood by insiders, in a style that is only understood by insiders. While I have no regrets over yesterday’s post or others like it, I understand that its content was largely meaningful to a select few potential readers. I know for a fact that some of my Facebook followers were oblivious to the details it addressed.
?
This is what I’d like my fellow Christian bloggers to realize: the blogosphere, and the world of Christian blogs in particular, is not as big as we might think. Tim Challies and Phil Johnson might be Really Big Names in our virtual world, but most of the people I know in the real world have never heard of them. Ditto for names like MacArthur, Sproul, Dever, and Mohler. Some of the Facebook followers I mentioned above very likely would never have heard of them had I not written about or linked to them.
?
And that’s okay. Challies, Johnson, MacArthur, et al, didn’t die for anyone’s sins. They didn’t write a single page of Scripture. I want to remember that when I am moved to respond to something I read online. Does it really matter? Will it have any value beyond next week? Will anyone outside this circle even know what I’m talking about? Will it matter to them?
I know what does matter, and has an eternal shelf-life. Jesus matters. The gospel matters. Theology and church history matter. The current local controversy may be important and worth commenting on, but if that is my focus all or most of the time, I’m living in a ghetto, not only of place, but of time. I want to major on the message and lessons that are eternally relevant. They were relevant before anyone ever heard of Brian McLaren, Mark Driscoll, and Rob Bell (more names that many have never heard), and will be relevant long after they are forgotten.
And no one needs to have read the latest blog post to understand them.
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2 Comments:
#1 || 12·01·11··20:15 || Mark@DR
Thank you for this, David. This morning I had lost perspective but reading your post later today restored it. Candidly, I prefer the back catalogs for reading material, where there is far less controversy.
Christ does not send us to baptize and teach in the Really Big Names, but in His Name.
#2 || 12·01·11··20:58 || David Kjos
Thanks, Mark. I was preaching mostly to myself, but It’s a reminder we all need.