I Want To Break Free

A few weeks ago Meeting Of One posted this video in relation to the question of whether to O.R.E.C. or not to O.R.E.C. (Organized Religious Entertainment Centre). (I'm sure people who read this blog "get" it). ;) Going along with the fun, I posted this video.

Well, I know there are some who are still pondering the question, and there are those who have other things in their lives they perhaps are 'struggling' to break free from. Some of it may be quite serious. Spiritual abuse, religion, legalism, lies, bad relationships, a job, a coworker, a church, a church member, you name it. NOT to minimize any of the seriousness of any of those issues, but here's a lighthearted look at the struggle people may be going through, from the boys who call themselves Queen. I don't know about you, but I think this is quite hilarious. :) The actresses... um, actors... play their parts well! The rest of the stuff is, what... art?

I Want To Break Free

Tradsville - Should I Stay Or Should I Go? / Ponderous

Meeting of One brings draws out some very ponderous things from a video today on his post "Sunday - Tradsville...mmm...". ;) "To O.R.E.C* or not to O.R.E.C"

It really got me thinking... Should I stay or should I go?!

*O.R.E.C. - Organized Religious Entertainment Centre (...or Center, in places where they don't have theatres).



And now for something completely different and unrelated... all based upon the word "ponderous" above. Anyone remember this song from the 80's? I couldn't find the original band (2NU - pronounced "too new") with a video, but at least two people have done their own. Ponderous, man. Really, really ponderous.

2NU - Ponderous

Joyful living and joyful giving - Part 2 of 2

In Part 1, I left off by saying that there was more to the stories about joyless giving that I had briefly mentioned. Check out that post to see the stories.

In story number one, the host of the program made things worse for the woman, in my opinion. It was obvious to me that he was a supporter of Christian tithing, and so instead of addressing the fact that tithing is a non-Christian principle (again, stay tuned and I'll eventually lay out a series of posts, showing how tithing is not a New Covenant principle by any means), and freeing the woman up to simply give freely from her heart as she determined to do on her own, which would by nature involve nothing less than cheerful giving, he gave her a list of rules and principles she could try to follow in order to have more joy in her life.

This is the type of thing in which I tend to have more verbal communication with my radio than I otherwise would have. ;)

And worse yet, in story number two the woman and her husband were commended by the host for what they did. I will mention that the woman said that she and her husband were very happy with what they had done and that they were thankful that they were in a position to be giving to something that they really wanted to give to. If they were truly changing their lifestyle because in their hearts they had decided that this was a way to give, and they did it cheerfully, then I can't argue with that.

But yet the whole story seems to me to be based more on legalism and religion - and not just a small wiff of it. This couple did feel obliged to "pay a tithe" to their local church. It didn't seem like they thought they had a choice in the matter. The root of their actions, it seems to me, was obligation, not giving freely.

When it comes to both joyful living (an overall life of joy) and joyful giving, the root can never be obligation. It can never be religion. It can never be rules. It can never be law. Christ came to set us FREE from all of that! I think that many Christians are living joyless lives, or at least seem to have very little joy, because they are mixing either a little or a lot of law and Old Covenant principles into their Christian lives. It only takes a little leaven of the law and religion to leaven the whole lump (see Gal 5:1-9).

Someone (well, ok, a LOT of people) might want to take some New Testament words and make "rules and principles" out of them. I'm thinking of words such as Peter's words, "What kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives..." (2 Peter 3:9). I recently heard an entire sermon on the radio based upon this passage. It basically turned out to be a list of do's and don'ts for the Christian life.

But the more I find out about my freedom in Christ, I find that the "oughts" of the Christian life are rooted in something much deeper. We can't simply yank passages out of the Bible and make rules out of them. Peter, in the above passage, continues with words that are often overlooked. "...as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming." This "ought" was rooted in joyful expectation of the coming of the Lord. It wasn't rooted in any kind of obligation to "be a better Christian" by following the rules. Joy wasn't going to come as a result of trying to live by "oughts."

Rather, the types of lives we live are rooted in the fact that in Christ we have freedom and we have joy. We have a wonderful Savior and Friend, and as we get to know Him intimately and freely, not through rules and oughts, but through His grace and love, then we won't be obliged to change our lifestyles in order to try to do better for Him. Instead, the sanctification process will be much more natural, over a period of time, as we rest in Him. It deeply saddens me that for many, the Christian life is not much more than futile attempts at rules and oughts.

As you read through other New Testament epistles, note how Paul and the others lay a foundation of life, love, grace, etc. And much more than a foundation, life, love and grace are also the makeup of the entire Christian life. And the actions of the Christian life, such as giving, kindness, love, holiness, etc, are not the root of the Christian life. They are the legitimate fruit of being grounded firmly and deeply in God's love and grace!

Joyful living and joyful giving - Part 1 of 2

I've had this in draft mode for at least two or three months, and with recent posts by others, and subsequent comments from others, I thought this might be the time to finish it and post it.

I don't quite understand it (ha ha), but for some reason churches seem to make a priority of teaching on the topic of giving. And many of the teachings I've heard on this topic just make me sad. This is stuff I've heard all throughout my church life but I can't say that I ever get any happier when I hear it.

Here are two sad stories I've heard lately that I believe are direct results of how giving is taught in churches today.

1. On a Christian radio talk show, a woman called in with a problem. The gist of her problem is that she gives money to the church but she just can't seem to do it joyfully. She said something like, "We do pay our tithe to our church, but it just isn't a joyful thing for us."

2. Another woman called into a Christian talk show (I can't remember if it was the same program) and said that there was a time when she and her husband couldn't afford to pay their tithe to their church, because they wouldn't have enough money left over for other necessary things, but they felt guilty about it. So what did they end up doing? They SOLD their house, and in her own words, they took a huge loss on it. But, she says, now they are in a smaller house that costs less and they can now afford to "pay their tithe" to their church.

OH

MY.

Why do things like this surprise me? It probably happens far more than we can imagine.

But the point is... what has the Christian religion done to us??? We take Old Covenant laws and practices that served specific purposes for Old Covenant times, we stretch them and manipulate them to fit into the ways we've devised to do things in the church, and we call it "Christianity." I've written full commentaries on "the tithe" in the past and I've shared bits and pieces of my thoughts in various newgroups, and even more recently on other blogs, and I have in mind to do a full series here on "the tithe."

But for now I'll just say that I'll bet there are many similar stories to the ones I shared above, with people dealing with joyless giving, changing their lifestyles so they can "pay a tithe" to a church, and other problems rooted in legalism, and this is one of the areas of modern day legalistic Christianity that really gets under my skin.

The stories above didn't end where I left off. I'll pick up where I left off next time.

Butterfly Church

Wow... I came across three great blog posts yesterday that really resonated with my heart. I'll post them individually.

The first one, over at With Unveiled Face, is called "The Butterfly Church." In it, 'Free Spirit' writes about how she has recently discovered "an entire subculture I knew nothing of" in which people are breaking out of the bondage of religion and finding the freedom for which they were created.

She writes:

This new culture I've found, seems to reveal a groaning of sorts. Yeah, like a groaning of the soul, too deep for words. It's both birthed in, and driven by, this groaning. Like baby chicks needing freedom from the encasement of their shells... pecking, pecking, pecking, and then pecking some more. Compelled to discover what's on the other side of their confinement. It's the caterpillar, turned butterfly, breaking out of its chrysalis and making its way to freedom. It's stunningly beautiful! They, too, have an inward knowing in their knower that there's more for them than what they previously knew. It's as natural as a bird flying.

And she continues with a profound statement that knocked me off of my feet:

The main difference between their species and ours is that they don't have their own to contend with.

Oh my! How true. Check out the entire post (link above).

Jesus is Not a Religion - Part 3

"Christianity is one of the great religions of the world," or at least so say many well-meaning people. But no matter what anyone has previously thought about Jesus, or how they've previously understood Him, what I'm attempting to do in this series of posts is simply to point out that the scriptures, which tell about Jesus, do not point us to some religion called "Christianity," but they point us to the very Person Himself, Jesus. My hope as I lay out what the scriptures reveal about Jesus, is to show how they reveal a Person who is personally, intimately involved with us (individually and corporately), and to contrast this with the idea of "religion."

"Jesus is the way" was the subject of Part 2, and I'd like to carry that out just a little more. Specifically, I'd like to discuss why a "way" was needed in the first place (and why religion is not the way).

God did not create mankind for religion. When we read the creation account in Genesis, we don't see God creating Adam and Eve and telling them, "Ok, now, worship Me and follow a prescribed set of religious rituals and precepts. My goodness! We see Him creating them "in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them." (Gen 1:27). We see Him setting them in a garden paradise and giving them free reign. In the next few verses we see God blessing them, telling them to "be fruitful and multiply." We see Him giving them dominion "over every living thing that moves on the earth." We see God giving, giving, giving to man, blessing him. No signs of religion. No signs of man working at trying to earn anything from God. Mankind was blessed and had a free and trusting relationship with God.

It wasn't God who created religion. It was man. Although what I'm about to say is obviously my opinion with no exact scriptural wording to back up my point, in the end the result is the same. In the beginning, Adam and Eve had a perfect relationship with God, but when presented with a different option, they chose religion instead. God gave them all things, and they were never meant to die, and they walked with God freely and openly. In the midst of the garden was the Tree of Life (to which they had free access) and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil (which was the only thing forbidden to them). Note, it wasn't simply the "tree of the knowledge of evil." It was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Well, they "saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise..." (Gen 3:6), and they took of its fruit and ate. And a dramatic change took place. Their eyes were "opened," and for the first time ever they knew that they were naked, and they covered themselves with fig leaves. Before eating from this tree, they had free and perfect fellowship with God. They had Life. They had no religion. Now suddenly they knew good and evil and also for the first time ever, they hid from God (Gen 3:8). God did not create man to hide from Him! His purpose for them was Himself and His creation - and Life. His purpose for them was not the religion tree (the tree of the knowledge of good and evil), but we do see that by setting the forbidden tree there, He did give them a choice.

(Let me just point out that in the culmination of things, as revealed in the book of Revelation, we find the Tree of Life "in the midst of the Paradise of God" (Rev 2:7, 22:2, 22:14) but we find no tree of the knowledge of good and evil).

We see the result when they at from the forbidden tree. The curse began. (Gen 3:17-19). "Death reigned." (Rom 5:14). "Through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned." (Rom 5:12). Man became alienated from God (Col 1:21).

As I set out saying, my purpose in spending some time here talking about Adam and Eve is to set up the understanding of why a "way" was needed in the first place. Because of sin - which spread to all of mankind - man was cursed and had no chance of eternal life. Ever since that time, man has tried to find various ways to reach out to God and "find" Him. Many people, for various reasons, think they have found Him through various methods, religious practices, feelings, emotions, strivings to live right, law, rules, meditation, etc.

But the same scriptures that reveal the above problems (the "bad news" of sin, death, separation from God, etc) also reveal that the answer, or the antidote, or the "way" is never going to be found in man's attempts to find God or reach out to Him. "Doing good works" is not the way to God. A "feeling" of love or happiness is not the way to God. Religious activity - which can be defined in all kinds of ways - is not the way to God. Many of these things may feel good or seem right, but a person can do all of those things and still remain separated from God! The issue, as the scriptures tell us, isn't a matter of whether we're good or evil. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil was the problem! Through that tree came death, and mankind was separated from the Tree of LIFE. It doesn't matter how good your good is if you're still eating from that tree! The issue is that man needed LIFE.

God so loved the world that He gave Jesus. Through Jesus, all who believe are restored to Life.

"God... who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began, but has now been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel..." (2 Timothy 1:9-10)

I'm sure we'll delve further into "Jesus is the Life" in the future, but for now I hope it's been made at least somewhat clear as to why a way was needed and why Jesus is the Way and why there is no other way.

Jesus is Not a Religion - Part 2

Jesus is the Way
When the Apostle Paul was in Athens, he "stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, 'Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are very religious; for as I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I found an altar with this inscription: TO THE UNKNOWN GOD.'" (Acts 17:22-23)

What's interesting is that, even though Paul perceived these people to be"religious," he neither affirmed their gods nor the objects of their worship. He did not say, "Hey, that's great. I'm just glad that you are worshipers and that you've found some sort of religion. All ways lead to God, anyway."

Rather than going along with and affirming their ignorance, Paul went on to proclaim to them the One True God. He said, "Therefore, the One whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you: God who made the world and everything in it..." For the sake of time, I won't get into Paul's entire speech, but he ends up by saying, "Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead." (Acts 17:30-31)

There is no doubt that Paul, instead of succumbing to a tolerance of all religions, was proclaiming Jesus Christ to them.

Paul was referring to the One who had said of Himself, "I am the way, the truth and the life." Here is a larger portion of the conversation that Jesus had with his disciples in which He spoke those words:

Jesus is speaking:
"Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. And where I go you know, and the way you know."

Thomas said to Him, "Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?"

Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him."

Philip said to Him, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us."

Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, 'Show us the Father'? Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves. (John 14:1-11)

The question asked of Jesus was, "How can we know the way?" Jesus' summarized response: "I am the way."

Again, along the lines of what I previously said, is Jesus being haughty or arrogant or condescending when He makes this claim? Far from it! Let's remember what scripture says about Jesus! From Colossians 1 - "He is the image of the invisible God." "By Him all things were created..." "He is before all things, and in Him all things consist." "For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell." From Philippians 2 - Jesus, "being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God..." He "made Himself of no reputation, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness, and being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death - even death on a cross!"

Out of His love and out of His grace... Jesus did all this for us! Jesus is the Way because out of His love and grace He made Himself the Way. "No one comes to the Father except through Him" because He has graciously and lovingly given Himself up for us.

More on "Jesus is the Way" coming up...

Jesus is Not a Religion - Part 1

As I share my thoughts about Jesus and religion, I realize that this will amount to much less than an exhaustive account. However, I do hope to cover some things that I think are of significant importance. Mainly I want to point out the stark contrast between Jesus and religion. As I said in the introduction, God didn't give us a religion. He gave His Son. I hope to show how Jesus is much more than simply some great historical figure and much more than some spiritual or religious leader.

There is indeed a lot to know about Jesus! But just because He is "big" and the reality of His being covers more than we'll ever know, that doesn't mean that everything that people think about Him is true. There are a lot of things that are not true about Jesus. Religion (and "non-religion") have cast Jesus in so many different ways that may or may not seem good and right, but either way are far off from what the scriptures reveal to us about Him. I personally don't want to invent my own "truth" about Jesus. I don't want to believe what I believe about Him just because it sounds good or feels good. In other words, I don't want to invent a Jesus who is suitable for me, but I want to look at what the scriptures actually say about Him.

I realize a wide variety of people may be reading this. Whoever you are - it's up to you whether or not you believe what the Bible says. But if we can at least agree that the Bible does say a lot about Jesus, then we at least have a common denominator to look at in order to get our information about Jesus. If I'm simply preaching to the choir here, then I hope you'll enjoy and find great encouragement here as we're reminded of just Who our Savior is! And if you're someone who has somehow come up with your own preconceived notions about who Jesus is (as opposed to actually looking into the scriptures) or if you're someone who hasn't really given Jesus much thought, then I think you'll be quite surprised to hear what the Bible actually says about Him!

Jesus is I AM
Let me start by pointing out that Jesus didn't simply appear on the scene 2,000 years ago! We all know the Christmas story, and how Mary was conceived by the Holy Spirit and gave birth to the baby Jesus. That was simply the beginning of Jesus' 33 years on earth as a man. Any religion can make the claim that their leader was born as a human being!

But can any religion make this claim about their leader? "...Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross." (Phil 2:6-8)

There is so much to draw out of the above passage of scripture, but the thing I want to point out is that if Jesus was in the form of God before He came in the likeness of man, that means that Jesus existed before He came in the likeness of man. Before He was born as a baby, He already "was."

And let me tell you, it gets even better than simply knowing that He "pre-existed." There are many scriptures that show us that Jesus was and is more than just a man, but let me highlight just a few.

When Jesus was being questioned by some Jews about who He was (as recorded in John 8), they said to Him, "You are not yet fifty years old, and You have seen Abraham?"

Jesus's response to them was, "Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM."

That might sound like a strange answer, but it might make more sense in light of an experience Moses had. When Moses had asked God who he should say was sending him to the children of Israel, God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM... Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, "I AM has sent me to you." (Exodus 3:14)

That might start to give a picture of who Jesus is. But how about this:

In Isaiah 44, the LORD YHWH (Yahweh) reveals Himself, saying, "I am the First and I am the Last; besides Me there is no God."

Then in Revelation 1:18, Jesus is speaking to John and He says, "Do not be afraid; I am the First and the Last. I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore."

This same voice (Jesus) had just finished saying, in Revelation 1:11, "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last." Later, in Revelation 21:6-7, God is speaking and He says, "I am the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End... He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son.

Are there two Alphas and two Omegas? Are there two Beginnings and two Ends? Are there two Firsts and two Lasts? How can both YHWH and Jesus refer to themselves as all of these things? It's pretty simple. The two are one. It makes quite a lot of sense that Jesus would say, "I and My Father are one." (John 10:30). Again, Jesus is not a religion!

The last bit of biblical evidence that I'll share that shows that Jesus is more than a mere man is found in Colossians 1:15-17. This is perhaps what would amaze people the most, who don't already know this about Jesus:

Speaking of Jesus, this passage says, "He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together."

You want to know who created all things? You want to know for whom all things were created? You want to know who holds all things together? It's in the above passage. Jesus!

Jesus is not a religion. Trusting Him or believing in Him is not a matter of being religious or following a religion. It's a matter of knowing the One who is the Creator. God didn't create us for religion. God created us to know Him. (More on that later). Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me."

Are Christians being exclusive or intolerant or self-righteous or arrogant when they claim Jesus is the way to God? Of course not. They are simply pointing to the good news of the One who was alive and then died and then is alive again forevermore! He is the One who provided the way (who is the way) for anyone and everyone who will simply trust in Him to have eternal life.

Jesus is Not a Religion - Introduction

I'm beginning a new series here. The hardest part of writing this particular series was coming up with the title! I had originally planned on simply writing about who Jesus is, and to somewhat contrast Him with what religion teaches, but as I thought about it and prepared it, I found myself in "contrast" mode more than I thought I would. So I thought of titles such as "Jesus vs. Religion," "Jesus is not a religion," Jesus contrasted with religion," "Who Jesus Is," "Who Jesus Is Not," "Who is Jesus?" and so on and so forth. In the end, I guess I cover quite a bit of stuff here, so I couldn't settle (in my mind) on one title!

I've done a lot of thinking this past week on all of this. I've read a little bit about what people think about various religions (as well as "non-religion"), in comparison with the "religion" of Christianity. I also received an email from an atheist, asking if I wanted to take part in a podcast in which an atheist and a Christian discuss things pertaining to Christianity and atheism. That's not quite my bag, particularly, so I'm not going to do that but it added to my thinking about religion and religious mindsets. Particularly, my thoughts have focused on the reality of who Jesus is (what the Bible reveals about Him), as contrasted with who people think Jesus is and what the "religion" of Christianity is all about. To some, Christianity is simply that - a religion that is not too different than any other religion. To some, all ways lead to God. To some, Jesus was a great teacher and a prophet, but is not "the Way."

To me, there is no such real thing as a religion called "Christianity." What I mean by that is, God so loved the world that He gave His Son, not the Christian religion. Some have turned this into a religion, but when we read the New Testament, as well as the Old Testament prophesies regarding Jesus and the New Covenant, we find it pointing to a Person, not a religion. The things that the scriptures reveal about this Person are fascinating! But one thing I want to do here, apart from simply talking about this fascinating Person, Jesus, is to present Him not as a religion or as a set of rules and tenets and principles, but as the Person who is the Way, the Truth and the Life. Christianity is not the way, the truth and the life. Religion is not the way, the truth and the life. The law is not the way, the truth and the life. Jesus is the way, the truth and the life.

Persecution

After a recent post of mine, and some comments that followed by Matthew, many thoughts came to mind. I remembered that in the past I had written about what I was thinking about, so below is a repost of my "Persecution" post from January 9, 2007. This was written before I had come to know many of you!

I should note that I do realize that Christians have been and still are persecuted for many different reasons around the world, and persecution is by no means limited to what I'm focusing on here. My focus here is on persecution from legalistic, religious people towards grace people. It's been going on a long, long time, going back even as far as Cain and Abel, although I don't go back quite that far here. :)

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Why were Jesus and the disciples persecuted? Why were the people of the early church persecuted? And another important question - who persecuted them?

In Western Christian culture, we tend to think of persecution as "good Christians" being put down or made fun of by "sinners." But I guess I just don't see that happening to Jesus or to the early church. The persecution that Jesus, the disciples and the early church received was from the religious people! Jesus was not put down and mocked - and ultimately killed - because He went around telling "bad" people to start being "good." He was hated by the religious people because He put His arms around sinners. He supped with them. He loved them.

Jesus told His disciples, "If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you" (John 15:18). It's true that many people today hate Christians. We've done a good job of making sure that's the case! But... I think we've gotten them to hate us for the wrong reasons! In fact, I think we've gotten the wrong people to hate us!

Jesus told His disciples, "They will put you out of the synagogues; yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service" (John 16:2). The people who hated Jesus and the disciples believed in God and wanted others to walk in His ways. But there was something "unsynagoguish" about Jesus and His disciples. I often think they would be kicked out of many of today's churches, too.

Again, who is it that did the persecuting, and why? Why was Saul standing there holding the coats of those who stoned Stephen? Then later, after Saul became a Christian (now known as Paul), why was he so heavily persecuted? Why was the early church so persecuted? Was it because they were "standing up for what is right!" (?) Was it because they were living such good, clean lives, that sinners all around began mocking them and calling them "goody two shoes?" Was it because they were protesting all the anti-Christian behavior that was going on around them, attending rallies and carrying signs and trying to get "moral" laws passed?

I realize that the point I'm making flies in the face of the modern church... :) But the people doing the persecuting were often the goody-two shoes, the religious, the law-abiding legalists! The ones being persecuted were persecuted for rejecting Moses and embracing Jesus. "For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ" (John 1:17).

Saul had been a man who had great confidence in his flesh. Later, when he became known as Paul, he would testify about his past life, before coming to know Jesus: "If anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, I more so: circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews; concerning the law, a Pharisee; concerning zeal, persecuting the church; concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless" (Phil 3:4-6).

Saul had gone around persecuting these new Christians who had rejected that way of life and instead embraced Christ. But then Jesus came to him. "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?" (Acts 9:4). After his conversion he realized how he had been so far from the truth. Saul's former "testimony" was cleaner than that of the squeakiest clean of today's squeaky clean Christians! But he turned away from that testimony to that he could have Christ instead.

He went on to share about his turning away from that law-abiding way of life: "But what things were gain to me (the things listed in Phil 3:4-6), these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as dung, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith..." (Phil 3:7-9).

Paul turned from his law-abiding life (he counted it as "dung") to a Christ-abiding life. There is a huge difference. The first way seemed like it should bear good fruit, but it only bore fruit unto death. "For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit unto death" (Rom 7:5).

Paul may have spent the latter part of his life in the chains of men, being persecuted by his own people for rejecting their ways, but he lived in perfect freedom, the freedom for which Christ had set him free!

Result of grace - I can see clearly now

Something wonderful has happened since I've begun to grow in the grace of God. I've slowed down. Not physically, but mentally. And yes, this is a good thing!

I don't mean that my mind can't or doesn't process information like it used to. I mean my mind has grown more calm and I see more clearly now. I've found myself rethinking a lot of things, but I've found that I'm not over-thinking things nearly as much as I used to. Grace... which means rest for me... has allowed me to step back and not try to get everything figured out, and not be 'right' about everything, and not try to get everything done, and not try to save the world, etc, etc. Grace means that I have slowed down, and instead of trusting myself to accomplish all the things of the Christian life, I'm trusting God more and more to "work in me to will and to do according to His good pleasure." Slowing down has helped my mind to be less fuzzy, and vice versa. It's all a result of growing in grace.

Back in 1999, I tried the "Atkins Diet" for the first time. I won't get into the details of the diet, but in short it's a low-carb diet. I did this "diet" for six weeks. And I really did lose a lot of weight and I really did feel a lot better. Of course, after I got off the diet I gained all the weight back and then some! Same with each subsequent time I've tried the diet. Which is why "diets" don't work. But I won't get into that right now!

The one good thing about this experience is that during this short period in my life I cut out all sugars, starches, flour, etc. In doing so, I cleared a bunch of "junk" out of my system and as a result my mind became more clear and more sharp. I was quite amazed. I hadn't realized how fuzzy my mind was until I got rid of the junk in a rather quick fashion! I noticed a stark contrast.

I compare this to what happened in my life when I began growing in grace - except for one major difference, of course. Grace is not a fad! Grace is not a "diet" that I try from time to time when I get the unbiblical notion that my life needs a "spiritual boost." Grace is the ongoing power and presence of God in my life. Grace is the foundation of my life, because Grace is a Person named Jesus.

I've definitely got a lot more growing to do - as we all do - and I can say that happily and with joy because I'm not the one who's in charge of my growth! My "job" is to rest in Jesus, and as I do the Life of the Vine naturally flows in me and through me - a branch - and I continuously experience His life. (Technical note: I purposely chose the word "continuously," not "continually." "Continuous" means "uninterrupted in time; without cessation." "Continual" means "recurring regularly or frequently." See the difference? The Vine's life doesn't only flow through us "regularly or frequently." We experience His life continuously, without cessation - whether we realize it or not!).

Back when I was running around always trying to figure out God's perfect will for my life, and trying to make sure all my "spiritual t's were crossed and i's were dotted," and trying to make sure I did my daily Bible reading and said all my prayers and witnessed to everyone at work, and struggling to apply every last principle that I was taught... and so on and so on... my mind simply had too much going on and the Christian life was pretty much joyless! I had no peace. It was a miserable rollercoaster ride with many emotional highs and lows (mostly lows) and many twists and turns.

To grow in grace I've had to get a lot of the 'religious' junk out of my life. Grace has released me from the pressure to perform and has cleared my head to actually see Christ! Jesus is a Person, not a set of disciplines or principles to live by. About 12 or 13 years ago I was able to take a step back and take a long, deep breath, and my journey of growing in grace began to take root.

I've since found that God's will in my life is not realized as I stress myself out over it! Bible study and prayer are not disciplines as much as they are expressions of a loving relationship with my Father as I grow in His grace. Sharing Jesus with other people is no longer a duty. Rather, I'm resting in the Life of the Vine and He leads and guides as I trust His life in me one day at a time... and all of these things are fulfilled much more naturally, not forcibly, as He sees fit. And much more slowly... but with much more substance.

How has growth in God's grace affected your mind / thinking / thoughts / actions / joy / peace / etc?

Make-up

I was looking for something on AOL Video tonight and this video was on the home page.

The way my mind works:

As I viewed this video, I saw it as a picture of dead works. People can put on a lot of "make up" (dead, religious, good works) and they can indeed have a very beautiful outward appearance. But when all alone, and the make up is removed, all you're left with is "whitewashed tombs" (Matt 23:27). Please note, I am not attempting in any way to judge the individual people in the video! I simply see this as a good illustration of the deceitfulness and hypocrisy of a good outward appearance when matched up with true righteousness. In Christ, we can indeed have a good outward appearance, but it's not the result of good make up (fleshly, religious strivings). It's the result of the living God taking up residence on the inside and displaying Himself on the outside as we rest in Him.



More Celebrities Without Makeup - video powered by Metacafe

Slow-cooking together

I try to be at least somewhat vulnerable on this blog. I mean, while not getting into the nitty gritty of my deepest and darkest fears, weaknesses, problems, etc, I've tried to be open in a way that I hope others can relate to in one way or another. I've shared about everything from my past marriage problems to my current and ongoing apprehension when it comes to talking on the phone! In sharing stuff like this, I know it's easy to give the impression that I live life in the curled up fetal position, sucking my thumb, afraid to do anything! But of course you know that's not true at all, and I know that that's not the case for anyone else who has shared their experiences here. Whenever I expose any of my weaknesses, it's always for the purpose of pointing to the overcoming God who lives in me!

I lived a good chunk of my life wearing masks and putting up walls. Essentially, being fake. But during the past 10 to 15 years I've been taking off the masks and breaking down the walls and just wanting to be real. There were times in my early Christian life in which I lied about what God was doing in my life because I wanted people to believe in the power of God! Isn't that just plain silly? I hadn't experienced some of the great and miraculous things that I'd heard some of my pentecostal friends talk about, and I thought that perhaps my faith just wasn't big enough. I didn't want others to think less of me. I wanted to impress them by making them think I had great faith! On top of that, I thought that unless I had some great and miraculous testimonies to share, I wouldn't be able to help other people believe in this great God of mine. So from time to time I would greatly exaggerate stories and even make up stories about what God had done in my life.

But over the years I've grown. I've truly seen God at work in my life, and it's generally not been in the form of great fireworks displays, at least not in a way that would make great headlines. It's been mostly slow, steady growth. Not a fast boil, but a nice slow cook. And it's not been because of my "great" faith. It's been because of my great God. Now, there have truly been occasions in which I've quickly overcome various problems and obstacles, such as the story I've shared about suddenly overcoming panic attacks. I'm glad that I can share stories like that without exaggerating. But most of my sins and weaknesses have not been overcome suddenly like that. Some of them have been overcome and put to death over the long haul, and some of them I still haven't overcome yet.

The point here, though, is not to focus on the things I need to overcome. I've found that when I gaze steadily at my weaknesses, there is no power to overcome them! But when I gaze steadily at the Person who lives inside me, the Holy Spirit, then "there is power, power, wonder working power." And again, the thing I've found out, at least in my own life, is that the wonder working power of the Holy Spirit does not generally provide for quick fixes!

Another reason for sometimes being vulnerable here is because I've come to find out that I'm not the only one dealing with various issues in life. When I keep quiet about some of these things, it's very easy for me to think I'm the only one who's ever dealt with certain things. And on the other side of the coin, it's very easy for someone else to think that they're the only one who deals with certain things. But by being open I've found that other people truly do relate, even if the specific issues aren't always exactly the same.

I hope for this to be the type of blog in which people can feel free to just "be." If you're a 'lurker' who simply reads the posts and the comments, but who doesn't participate, I hope you will be greatly encouraged by the things that are said here. And if you do participate, whether often or occasionally, I hope that you feel free to be yourself as you share what's on your heart. I know that that's the case on the blogs of the people who comment here, as well as with the other blogs and websites that I've linked to on the right.

Overall, this blog is for those who are tired of religion and legalism and who simply want to grow in their relationship with Jesus, not based upon the performance-based rules, methods, principles and laws of the church that have only served to leave people hungrier and thirstier (the opposite of what is intended), but rather based upon hunger-and-thirst-quenching intimacy with the Holy Spirit as He teaches us and assures us of the unconditional love and grace of God through the scriptures, through direct revelation to us and through each other! This blog is for those who want to "let your roots grow down into (Jesus) and draw up nourishment from him, so you will grow in faith, strong and vigorous in the truth you were taught..." (from Col. 2:7 NLT).

We're all in this together!

Religion

RoG (former fellow-blogger) sent me this via email.

With many Christians and Christian workers, if you touch their work, their organization, their system of things, their religious thing of which they are part, then you meet awful resistance. Prejudices and suspicions and all those things rise out of this weddedness to things rather than to the Lord. If only people were wedded to the Lord and He was their only quest, you would get rid of 95 percent of all the prejudice and suspicion that exists. It is things that produce it. We need to drop our things and be found only concerned with the Lord. Our one question, governing every situation, should be, Does that contribute in any way to a larger measure of Christ? If it does, then in my heart I am with it; it does not matter what it does to existing institutions. If that can lead on to a knowledge of Christ beyond what we have, then that is the thing that matters. It is Christ, not OUR Church, not OUR fellowship, not OUR mission, not OUR organization, not OUR tradition, but Christ. He is a tremendously enlarging and emancipating factor. It is these things that have cramped us down and made us small, mean, petty and peevish. Christ delivers, Christ enlarges; oh, to see Him! Oh, that we could be brought by the Spirit as the Queen of Sheba was brought and shown the kingdom of Solomon, his glory, his table, his servants, until there was no more spirit left in her and she said, "I heard... of thine acts and thy wisdom. Howbeit I believed not... until I came and mine eyes had seen it: and behold, the half was not told me" (I Kings 10:7). And a greater than Solomon is here! What you and I need is that enlargement which comes by a Holy Spirit inward revelation of Christ and we shall be emancipated. These other things will fall into their own place as we see Him more fully.

(T. Austin Sparks from The Centrality and Universality of the Cross p. 32-33)

Analogous

Well I had to do this. :) I can't help but see an analogy between the story I shared about my coffee experience ("But the label is GREEN") and something else that happens in real life.

As I previously wrote, for about 3 or 4 weeks I was using coffee from a green coffee can that I thought was decaffeinated. The can was green, and decaf coffee comes in green cans, right? After a prolonged, unexplained buzz that I just couldn't seem to shake, and a very irritating and somewhat debilitating heaviness and pressure in my head, not to mention chest pain and a fluttering heart, I finally looked at the label and found out that the green coffee can from which I'd made almost a pot of coffee per day (because I'm a sick, twisted coffee freak) actually contained caffeinated coffee.

And so it can be with religion and religious duty vs. freedom and walking in the Spirit. Religion can often look very much like the thing we really want - spiritual living. We can drink from the religion can, working harder and harder out of our own self effort, trying to please God, trying to carve out some sort of spiritual legacy. It can indeed appear very good! And so we get used to the religious lifestyle, putting on the plastic smile and making others (and even ourselves) think that we've got it all together and that we've got this Christian thing down. But before long, we get to a place where we can't deny the pressure in our heads, our fluttering hearts, our chest pain - which may come to each of us in various forms - but no matter how it comes to us we realize that something is wrong about the way we're going about our Christian 'business.' We realize we've been drinking from the wrong can.

My hope and prayer for myself, and for you, is that God will continuously keep our eyes open to understand the subtle differences between fleshly religious duty and the life-giving, life-sustaining life of Christ that is within us. And that we'll always enjoy great coffee.