America has regulations
to regulate the regulators! The founders
of our country would be astonished, probably brokenhearted, to see the heavy
web of laws that we wrap around every part of our lives. Most Americans do not realize that this ‘free’
nation has a higher percentage of people in the ‘justice’ system than any other
developed nation on earth today. Though Americans
account for only about 5% of the world’s population just over 25% of those in
prison are in American jails, many for non-violent offenses. Many factors come together that cause us to
build this crushingly expensive corrections system; among them, fear,
ignorance, increasing urbanization, and loss of spiritual values that help
individuals to govern their own behaviors.
My concern is that
same mind creeps into our faith. Think
about it. Has Church become something of a prison? Is it a place where we invite others to write
rules for us to govern our behaviors because we cannot trust ourselves? Are we
attempting to create holiness by focusing on controlling what others do, what they
say, how they act; or by raising the threat of punishment? Or is the Church a liberating place where
people are invited to become the persons God desires them to be? Does the love and acceptance demonstrated by
Jesus again and again shape our community and invite others who live openly,
joyfully, and without condemnation?
How foolish we are
to trade the freedom of Christ for rules. We cannot possibly write enough to
make us good and loving people. Only an
inner transformation, possible by the Spirit of God, really makes us good. The
Bible says, "You have died with
Christ, and he has set you free from the evil powers of this world. So why do
you keep on following rules of the world, such as, “Don’t handle, don’t eat,
don’t touch.” Such rules are mere human teaching about things that are gone as
soon as we use them. These rules may seem wise because they require strong
devotion, humility, and severe bodily discipline. But they have no effect when
it comes to conquering a person’s evil thoughts and desires. Since you have
been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of
heaven, where Christ sits at God’s right hand in the place of honor and power.
Let heaven fill your thoughts. Do not think only about things down here on
earth." (Colossians 2:20-3:2, NLT)
Go back and read
that passage again, slowly, prayerfully.
Now ask yourself, is my
Christianity based on fear or love?
Only you can answer that question. One way to know is to observe what
you do, how you act, when you’re alone or anonymous. A person who loves Christ and who is filled
with the Spirit develops character and that character has no need of restraint
or punishment. A mature Christian does not just ‘act like a Christian.’ He lives with integrity, his daily choices
flowing out of who he has become in his mind and heart. He would pray, love,
worship, serve, and seek God just as fervently if alone on a deserted island as
he does in church when surrounded by people professing to belong to God.
Most Christians
say that they love passages like Romans 8. (Read it lately?) The heart of our Christian faith pulses through
the revealed Truth inspired there. What does the Lord promise there? No condemnation. Freedom. Peace. Life. True
holiness that lets God’s beauty radiate from our lives. Are those ideas you connect with your
Christianity? Has knowing Christ made
you a person of greater depth, beauty, and responsibility for others? Or, has religion just added another layer of
rules to your life, deepening your sense of guilt and shame?
Ponder this
passage. For most of my readers it will
be familiar territory, but I urge you to read it again, as if for the first
time.
"There is now no condemnation for those who
are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life
set me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do
in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in
the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in
sinful man, in order that the righteous
requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to
the sinful nature but according to the Spirit. Those who live according to
the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those
who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit
desires.
The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life
and peace; the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s
law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.
You, however, are controlled not by the sinful
nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does
not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. But if Christ is
in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of
righteousness. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is
living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your
mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you. Therefore, brothers, we
have an obligation—but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it.
For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the
misdeeds of the body, you will live, because those who are led by the Spirit of
God are sons of God." (Romans 8:1-14, NIV)
________________
Make me more like You, Jesus;
Make me more like You.
Give me a heart that’s filled with love,
And make me more like You! –
copied
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