As we near the end of this five part series I have to say that this has been the most difficult set of posts I’ve ever written.
For a lot of reasons…
- I’m still so sickened by the evil and wickedness of this Cho Seung-Hui character that I can hardly give it anymore thought.
- I am almost at my wits end as to how to communicate the simplicity of Jesus alone being the answer to all of this. He always has been the answer. He always will be. Still, it’s mind-boggling how the masses return to what doesn’t work over and over again anyway. Must be what the Bible says in this verse, http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Prov.%2016:25;&version=72;
- I’ve lived with a growing sense of urgency for several years now. I can honestly and wholeheartedly see what the apostle Paul meant now when he said,
What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ
Well, that’s a little insight into my world, now on with the post.
I started all of this with a growing frustration over the fact that a lot of times the shelf life of the average believer’s commitments these days seems roughly the equivalent of raw, ungutted, uncleaned catfish placed on a solar panel on top of the steamy hot pavement of a road in the middle of
That’s short, people. Really, really short.
Our commitments to ANYTHING today seem to expire almost before we utter the words or sign on the dotted line. We’re no longer committed to marriage, country, jobs, family, God, a local church…nothing! When we make a commitment it would almost be more honest and beneficial for those counting on us to insert a clause reading, I hereby commit to break this commitment almost immediately, signed Flake Jr.
But why? Why is it this way for so many of us?
Because we’ve come to worship the act of signing, the uttering of vows, and the taking of solemn oaths over the importance of not only ‘our word,’ but also of the one whom we are inevitably making all commitments to in the first place, God.
It also has to do with what I have been writing about for three days now, dancing around the peripheral.
Think about it.
Most Christians would readily admit they want to become more like Christ, yet most would have to reluctantly admit they also have no real idea how. We’ve muddied the waters too much.
Want to be more like Jesus?
√ Buy a bracelet (WWJD).
√
√ Attend a church.
√ Go to small group.
√ Boycott the bad guys.
√ Vote republican.
√ Do your daily 5 minute devotional
√ Pray before each meal.
That list could be a hundred pages long. I mean, we could probably come up with 614 foolproof, guaranteed, unique Christian laws (beating the Pharisees by one) that we all agree you have to live by in order to be a good Christian and all we’d really guarantee is that we’d miss God by a million miles!
It’s all, dancing around the peripheral!
Jesus didn’t come so that we might have rules and regulations. He came that we might have a relationship — a relationship with our Creator, the God who loves us and gave Himself for us (see John
Tired of dancing around the peripheral of that kind of life?
Want to increase the shelf life of your commitments and credibility before God and start getting to know Him?
Me too.
Tomorrow I’ll tell you how.