more than an echo

I read an article in CNN today about the evangelist Oral Roberts. He was what we call a 'faith healer,' though when given that label he rejected it saying "God heals- I don't." The article estimates that he 'laid hands' on over 2 million people over a period of 300 crusades on 6 continents. One picture from the article shows him preaching at chapel THIS year- this man preached until the ripe age of 91, until He went to be with the Lord.

"After I'm gone, others will have to judge how well I've obeyed God's command not to be an echo but to be a voice like Jesus; as far as my own conviction is concerned, I've tried to be that voice with every fiber of my being, regardless of the cost."

This quote from Oral Roberts really struck me- that we must be more than an echo. Throughout most of my church life, most of my beliefs and ideas were echoes of what I had been told. Even in my study of scripture, I listened to sermons, read books and trusted in commentaries- I often left little room for the Holy Spirit to guide me and create something new. I believe that God speaks to us directly, and that when we forget that and try to follow the commands of this world (whether it be work, school, the media or even church), we distort the image of God in us. Like the "clanging cymbal" in 1 Corinthians 13:1, when we are apart from the true love of God, we just echo the discordant ways of this world.

Reading this quote also helped me understand my life verse, 2 Corinthians 5:17, a little bit more. I love how the ESV translation says 'behold, the new has come'- there is something tremendously shocking and different and even unfamiliar when Christ is in us. Echoes are reflections of something already there, but Christ's work in us is brand new. A friend told me that the only proof of being saved is radical transformation. I tend to agree. We can no longer echo the world around us, instead we must become "a voice like Jesus."

Link to article: http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/12/15/oral.roberts/index.html