Not that I’m a Gen-Y woman, an urbane New Yorker, or a liberal evangelical, but I am a recovering cynic and smart-alec who appreciates the words of a fellow traveler in Sojourners–blogger Juliet Vedral. After all, to this day, I believe that Daria is the only justification for MTV’s existence (well, besides Martha Quinn). In this blog post Vedral describes her recent experiences with Beth Moore Bible studies. (Nice allusion to Philippians 3, by the way!) As a guy, I don’t know from Beth Moore (is there a male equivalent?), but I have, for instance, fallen in love with my ESV Study Bible—a giant brick of a thing, whose scholarship contradicts nearly everything I learned at liberal mainline seminary. Maybe that’s analogous?
Regardless, I love this: “Being snarky and cynical, while generating a lot of great material for writing and holding court at parties, never got me very far with God.” Exactly! Like Vedral, I have grown very fond of people who love Jesus. I want to be like them—even more than I want to be smart or cool. Or at least I want to want that, which is progress.
As a third generation New Yorker, cynicism and snark have been bred into me, along with an affinity for black clothing and pretentious coffee. So it has surprised everyone — including me — that I have spent the past year going through (and recommending) Beth Moore studies…
Beloved (as Beth would call you in her study), it changed my life. Submitting myself to her teaching was sanctifying. It made me less of a snarky, cynical person, someone who counts all of her smart-ass tendencies as a loss compared to knowing Christ…
Beth may not look or sound or write the way a sarcastic Gen-Y woman would prefer. But when you are trying to learn how to have a relationship with Jesus, being snarky and cynical is a liability. Sure Beth Moore might have big hair and use church-ladyisms, but she knows Jesus (I swear she knows his favorite color). And while I’m busy doing my very best imitation of Daria and shutting God out with my attitude, she’s happily communing with the God of the universe AND then taking the time to write studies so that we could know that God too.
Being snarky and cynical, while generating a lot of great material for writing and holding court at parties, never got me very far with God. Beth Moore helped reintroduce me to the “One and Only,” (even writing that made me cringe) and taught me how to make myself vulnerable to that God. And that has softened my cynicism and tempered my snark. Thank you, Beth. Thank you for your faithfulness to share what — and Who — you know.