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Been reading Growing Deep in God and am very struck that the theological crisis Edmund Chan described in the book could be true about the people I'm raising up especially the younger ones.

We often seek the "anointing" and reject life's problems when, from God's point of view, we grow much more through the anguish than the "anointing". The "anointing" may enlarge our capacities, but it is the anguish that deepens our character. If your theology cannot survive the onslaught of anguish, it is worthless.

The Church of today faces a serious theological crisis. We accept as a norm the profound lack of willingness, or ability, to think deeply and consistently about truth. We are lulled into a passive mode of thinking. Instead of countering the fallacy of secular philosophy with rich biblical and theological truths, and a deep life congruent with those truths, we live in a generation where a sound theological foundation is ignored; or worse, even snubbed upon.

Unexamined assumptions shape the intellectual contours of a lazy and slothful generation, tainting the moral and spiritual landscape of the soul. As such, one of the distinct weakness of the modern Church is that of having zeal without knowledge. We end up with a superficial faith without a deep theological foundation.

At the heart of this theological crisis is a man-centered worldview that corrupts our whole orientation of life--even our basic orientation to the spirituality of prayer. We focus on the sacrifices we make, the duties we perform, the commitments we have. Prayer becomes more about us than about God. We approach Scriptures the same way. We read it primarily for answers to our questions, for solutions to our problems, for comfort for our needs or for insights to boost our egos.

We place ourselves as the centre of gravity in life, around which all things revolve. Instead of God being our anchor, we ourselves have become our own pitiful security. Instead of depending on and acknowledging God's gracious provisions, we depend on our intelligence, our wealth, our resources or our resourcefulness.

Case in point: ask any Christian why Christ came to earth, and the most common answer given is, "He came to die on the cross for our sins." This is true but inadequate. The fundamental problem with this answer is that it is too man-centered. As if the world revolves around us! While it is true that Christ came to earth to die for our sins, it is more significant to understand that Christ came, first and foremost, to glorify God, not to gratify man! Jesus declared conclusively, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to accomplish His work."

We speak more about our commitment to God than of God's commitment to us. No wonder we struggle and falter in our walk with God. We need to rediscover God's uncompromising commitment to us. Thus, we sometimes begrudge what prayer cost us; and forget what it cost God!