Norm Macdonald was a famous comedian that I laughed at on TV when I was a kid (I didn’t grow up in a Christian home).
Well, he passed away last month (September 14, 2021), and I was shocked to read the transcript to one of his most recent interviews. Pay attention to how he speaks of Jesus and Christianity:
"Some people believe that man is divine, like kind of a hippie idea. I can't believe that because I know my own heart, and I know that's not true. Other people believe that we're wretched, like the cynics or the atheists would believe we're all just wretched nothingness, just animals, just creatures. I can't believe that. It doesn't make any sense, that we're just beasts. I will say that Christianity has this interesting compromise where we're both divine and wretched, and there's this Middle Man that's the Savior, that through Him we can become divine, but we're born wretched. I kind of like that one, because it sort of makes sense."
His conclusion was that Jesus and Christianity make the most sense—to which I say, “Amen!” But I wonder if that knowledge ever produced a change of heart and confession before God.
It is that same question that drives my prayers for the adults and students in our community.
Am I too cynical? Are my concerns ungodly worries or holy concerns?
In 1 Corinthians 8:1–3, Paul warns about a religious “knowledge” that puffs up a person—it makes them proud with self-righteous indignation. They think their knowledge makes them good or better than others (such an easy trap).
But if the truth doesn’t travel from our head to our heart, it never produces faith or love. Without faith it is impossible to please God or become saved. Without love, we are as useless and irritating as a noisy piece of metal—not God’s intention for any of us.
The truth is, God wants to work powerfully in our lives. But that only happens when we submit to Him fully—head and heart.
Would you join me in prayer that God would bring revival to Newton? And would you start that prayer with a petition for your own heart?
I look forward to seeing you all Sunday and continuing our study through the Sermon on the Mount—what a mountain of a Sermon!
Galatians 6:9-10,
Pastor Jack