
Jeff Finley
Light + Life Executive Editor
Jeff Finley is this magazineās executive editor. He joined the Light+Life team in 2011 after a dozen years of reporting and editing for Sun-Times Media. He is a member of John Wesley Free Methodist Church where his wife, Jen, serves as the lead pastor.
by Jeff Finely
In more than 20 years of editing and writing for newspapers and magazines, Iāve learned itās hard to predict which articles and issues will upset readers. When I expect controversy and outrage, the collective response is often silence or enthusiastic agreement. Sometimes, however, a seemingly innocuous article or photo generates unexpected anger. I can tell you from firsthand experience that nothing sets newspaper subscribers off like the same crossword puzzle inadvertently running two issues in a row.
As I look at LIGHT + LIFEās 2020 theme list, I expect some controversy. The theme of āsanctified sexuality,ā for example, may cause people to take a second look. This issueās theme isnāt like that.
After all, wherever you fall on the theological spectrum, nearly everyone (except atheists or maybe agnostics) should be able to agree with this issueās theme, āLove God.ā Maybe you havenāt agreed with every sentence of every article on the preceding pages, but Iām guessing LIGHT + LIFE wonāt receive any email, snail mail or Facebook comments criticizing the overall theme.
If weāre all in agreement that we should love God, then why bother with a magazine issue on this theme? If loving God is a given, our mission statement could just be ālove people and make disciples.ā
We may say weāre all for loving God, but is God at the top of our love list? When do we say to God, āHave I told you lately that I love you? Have I told you thereās no one else above you?ā
OK; perhaps Van Morrison/Rod Stewart song lyrics arenāt appropriate here. Letās look instead at Deuteronomy 6 that says to āloveĀ theĀ LordĀ your God with all your heartĀ and with all your soul and with all your strengthā and also to āserve him onlyā with a reminder that āthe Lord your God, who is among you, is a jealous God.ā
Do we put God first? Do I?
Iām afraid of the answer based on the āscreen timeā list that mysteriously started appearing on my cell phone after I ran an update a few months ago. Suddenly, I see where my Bible app ranks on the list of my most used apps. Itās convicting to see the Bible below apps for my social media accounts.
A different set of priorities are reflected in a box of family Bibles stored temporarily at my home while my parents-in-law move into a new home. As my wife posted on Facebook, āI love that these Bibles are literally falling apart. They are worn, cracked and used.ā She noted that some of her fatherās Bibles literally are held together by packing tape.
Ā Please donāt take this article as a case for legalism. We shouldnāt make church membership dependent on how battered our Bibles are, and Iām not saying church ushers should be doing random inspections of phones. I do, however, believe that how we spend our time (and our money) may reflect more than we care to admit about what and whom we love.
As recorded in Exodus 20, God said,Ā āYou shall have no other gods before meā and then followed that up with another reminder that āI, theĀ LordĀ your God, am a jealous God.ā
What are our gods? Politics, shopping, sex, videogames, sports, Netflix, music and/or food? These arenāt necessarily bad things, but good things and even necessities can become gods if we prioritize them before God.
Sometimes we think weāre loving God if we indulge in things with a Christian label ā Christian conferences, Christian music, Christian dating services, Christian movies, Christian cruises, Christian books, Christian wrestling (yes, thatās a thing), Christian comedy, Christian talk shows and (gulp) Christian magazines. Is it possible for parts of our evangelical Christian subculture to become our idols? What if some of our so-called Christian things donāt truly reflect Christ?
Paul warns the Corinthians, āI am jealous for you with a godly jealousy.Ā … But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpentās cunning,Ā your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached,Ā or if you receive a different spiritĀ from the Spirit you received, or a different gospelĀ from the one you accepted, you put up with itĀ easily enoughā (2 Corinthians 11:2ā4).
We must proceed cautiously, because church history and todayās Internet offer many examples of Christians excessively accusing other Christians of heresy over relatively minor theological differences. Still, we need to watch our ālife and doctrine closelyā (1 Timothy 4:16). Are we letting our enthusiasm for a particular Christian leader, author, teacher, musician or website overshadow what God is trying to reveal through the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:14), Scripture (2 Timothy 3:16) and wise counsel from the people who know us best (Proverbs 15:22)?
Are we willing to seek God first (Matthew 6:33) and pray the ādangerous prayerā ā āanything, everything, whatever it takesā ā that ends Bob Sorgeās article in this issue? Will we demonstrate our love by taking up our cross and following Christ (Matthew 10:38 and 16:24, Mark 8:34, Luke 9:23 and 14:27)? +

Jeff Finley
Light + Life Executive Editor
Jeff Finley is this magazineās executive editor. He joined the Light+Life team in 2011 after a dozen years of reporting and editing for Sun-Times Media. He is a member of John Wesley Free Methodist Church where his wife, Jen, serves as the lead pastor.