Let Me Just Check My List.

Have you ever noticed how we as humans measure, quite literally --  everything?

I suppose it is because we are contained within time, and time becomes our point of reference.  What we know, we know in terms of what is now, what has been, and what may be.  It is how we gain some sense of control over our lives.  We age, measuring from one year to the next.  We grow, measuring one "state" to the next.  We change, and we know this because we measure where we were to where we are now. 

We are constantly walking around with rulers and tapes and cups and calendars and scales and clocks and thermometers and money.  Look around and you'll be amazed at just how many devices you see, all whose express purpose is to measure  In fact, science is itself the act and study of measuring.

This is notable because as most things within the human condition, it is both a good thing and a bad thing.  We love to be encouraged by our progress from where we were to where we are now.  On the other hand, I hate it when I step on the scale and the measure is considerably higher than it used to be.  I love to be smarter than I was when I was 20.  But I hate that I'm more wrinkled and move more slowly.

Competition - it rises up out of a desire to be closer to God.  We Christians measure constantly because we, like everyone, want to win.  Sometimes we point to the Bible and then look at our lives, and measure the difference.  Sometimes we look at Jesus Himself, and do the same.  These are the good ways we measure. 

But more often than not, we look at each other.  We like to win, so we measure just how far we are from heaven as compared to our neighbors.  We take great pride in being further up the ladder, down the road, into the journey, older in the faith.  We reduce God to being a judge rather than a father. 

Beyond that, we reduce our freedom in Christ to a set of rules.  Rules are far easier to measure than freedom.  Freedom is a release from measurement.  It's like floating in space, or in water.  It has no boundaries; it is immeasurable.  It is like God.  When we reduce our freedom in Christ to a long list of rules, we immediately set limits to our freedom.  We cage it in and make it what it cannot be.  We try and measure what cannot be measured.

Now while this is all very cerebral, it has its applications in everyday life.  Paul talks about it when he speaks to the Galatians, who had taken up their measuring devices with a vengeance:

Galatians 3 --
 ^5-6Answer this question: Does the God who lavishly provides you with his own presence, his Holy Spirit, working things in your lives you could never do for yourselves, does he do these things because of your strenuous moral striving or because you trust him to do them in you?

In other words, why do you think God loves you?  Because you can measure everything you do, and you think it meets His expectation?

Talk about ridiculous.  Paul goes on to emphasize to these people that it doesn't matter what they do - God loves without abandon and calls us to a freedom through Christ.  Death, by definition, is a measurement: it is the end of something.  Sinning is being outside the presence and grace of God.  So sinning is actually slavery, because it is bound within the limits of what can be measured.   When you choose sin, you choose measurement.  You choose being within the confines of something.  Freedom is just that - freedom in Christ - and has no boundaries.  It cannot be measured.  Basically, it's kind of silly for me to say that I'm more free in Christ than you are.  It's like saying I can float more than you can.  If you're "more free" than I am, it's got to be because I'm not free in the first place.

Paul sums it up this way in Galatians 3:

 ^11-12The obvious impossibility of carrying out such a moral program should make it plain that no one can sustain a relationship with God that way. The person who lives in right relationship with God does it by embracing what God arranges for him. Doing things for God is the opposite of entering into what God does for you. Habakkuk had it right: "The person who believes God, is set right by God—and that's the real life." Rule-keeping does not naturally evolve into living by faith, but only perpetuates itself in more and more rule-keeping, a fact observed in Scripture: "The one who does these things [rule-keeping] continues to live by them."
 ^13-14Christ redeemed us from that self-defeating, cursed life by absorbing it completely into himself.


He continues on with this idea in Galatians 5:

^23-24Legalism is helpless in bringing this about; it only gets in the way. Among those who belong to Christ, everything connected with getting our own way and mindlessly responding to what everyone else calls necessities is killed off for good—crucified.
 ^25-26Since this is the kind of life we have chosen, the life of the Spirit, let us make sure that we do not just hold it as an idea in our heads or a sentiment in our hearts, but work out its implications in every detail of our lives. That means we will not compare ourselves with each other as if one of us were better and another worse. We have far more interesting things to do with our lives. Each of us is an original. 

Legalism amounts to measurement.  And a life in Christ is free, absent of measurement.  We step out of that freedom every time we step into a life that is measured -- whether by obeying rules (and confusing that with freedom) or by stepping away from the presence of God into sin.  My husband Mark has always described it as being under an umbrella, and God is the umbrella.  When we decide to run out from under that, we get wet or sunburned or hurt in some way.  And then of course we have to measure just how sunburned or wet or hurt . . . you get the idea. 


So I don't know about you, but I'm throwing myself off into the deep ocean of freedom.  It's pretty scary to leave the safe boundaries of measurement.  I know full well I'll be jumping back into the boat, into the small confines of my selfishness and limited view of life.  But I also know I'll have a look at that vast openness and jump right back in again.  And someday, I'll jump in for good.

Wanna go swimming?

Looking Up

I confess that I am secretly a closet Catholic.

(pun intended)

It's not that I agree with every bit of doctrine so much.  But I love the liturgy and the reverence for God in the mass.  I love the things that are repeated and addressed.  I love and admire the faithfulness I see in the priests, brothers, monks, nuns, and faithful attenders.  I check in with EWTN regularly just to hear the mass.

And of course I say this, I am quite sure, to the great dismay of those friends of mine who hold securely to their evangelical church beliefs.  That's ok.  We'll deal with that issue when we all get to heaven.  Remember the old joke about Peter giving the tour of heaven and having to be quiet when you passed one of the rooms?

We all, Catholics and Protestants alike, have a tendency to be all about the rules.  There is a lot of very beautiful liturgy that is essentially "paying" for the sins committed.  The same is true of many other protestant denominations:  we want to measure everything, and we make all these rules so that we can see just how far we are from God -- and just how much better or  worse we are -- from each other.  Catholics go to confession and then say "Hail Marys."  Baptists don't dance or drink.  Mennonites don't follow the current trends in terms of dress, in an effort to not be "of the world."  My own church opposes abortion, drinking alcohol, and pre-marital sex.

Everybody is pretty much in the same boat when it comes to their church.  You're supposed to follow a lot of rules and be good.  It's no wonder that so many people call themselves "Christians" and yet have absolutely no relationship with Christ Himself, other than to try and be good people.

I was reading in Galatians 3 today; Paul's very strong language to the Galatians who were very interested in keeping rules and tallying up just how good they were.  He had this to say:

^2-4Let me put this question to you: How did your new life begin? Was it by working your heads off to please God? Or was it by responding to God's Message to you? Are you going to continue this craziness? For only crazy people would think they could complete by their own efforts what was begun by God. If you weren't smart enough or strong enough to begin it, how do you suppose you could perfect it?

Paul is hopping mad at these guys who insisted that the new Christians follow the old Jewish ways of the law.  And with good reason.  He continues:

^9-10So those now who live by faith are blessed along with Abraham, who lived by faith—this is no new doctrine! And that means that anyone who tries to live by his own effort, independent of God, is doomed to failure. Scripture backs this up: "Utterly cursed is every person who fails to carry out every detail written in the Book of the law."

So much for being a good person, right?

 ^11-12The obvious impossibility of carrying out such a moral program should make it plain that no one can sustain a relationship with God that way. The person who lives in right relationship with God does it by embracing what God arranges for him. Doing things for God is the opposite of entering into what God does for you.

And here is where I believe Rick Warren got it right -- a purpose-driven life isn't one where we do and do and do for God.  It's one where we take a look at what God is doing, and we do what Paul says, which is embrace what God arranges for us.

Habakkuk had it right: "The person who believes God, is set right by God—and that's the real life." 

Rule-keeping does not naturally evolve into living by faith, but only perpetuates itself in more and more rule-keeping, a fact observed in Scripture: "The one who does these things [rule-keeping] continues to live by them."

I, for one, am quite decidedly in favour of NOT living in that prison.

Its purpose was to make obvious to everyone that we are, in ourselves, out of right relationship with God, and therefore to show us the futility of devising some religious system for getting by our own efforts what we can only get by waiting in faith for God to complete his promise. For if any kind of rule-keeping had power to create life in us, we would certainly have gotten it by this time.


Who says it better than that?

 ²⁷But now you have arrived at your destination: By faith in Christ you are in direct relationship with God.

When I read this, I thought about my two brothers and my sister.  One brother in particular tends to fall back on the old belief that being a Christian is all about having to give up all the fun things and keep all these rules.  His philosophy is like so many others -- "I don't steal or cheat, I'm faithful to my girlfriend, I've never killed anyone, I pay my taxes.  Why would a merciful God kick me out of heaven?"

The longer I live, the more backwards I find that kind of thinking.  Making it all about the rules condemns us to hell.  And that is of our own doing.  

God calls me to look at Him, lifts my chin, speaks my name.  He makes me laugh.  He lets me fail and allows me to choose things that might hurt me, so I can learn.  My life isn't about rules at all.  It's about being a child whose Father delights in her.

Rule books are for referees.  Jesus is for those -- Catholic, Baptist, Mennonite, Church of Christ, and everybody in between.  My friend Rich Mullins said it very well in one of his early songs:

"Look up -- you could see if you just looked up. . . "

^11-12"The person who lives in right relationship with God does it by embracing what God arranges for him. . . Rule-keeping does not naturally evolve into living by faith, but only perpetuates itself in more and more rule-keeping, a fact observed in Scripture: "The one who does these things [rule-keeping] continues to live by them."

Galatians 3:11-1

That just about says it, doesn't it?

You just can't work your way into God's good graces.

Amen!

xoxox

Real Life Calls for Real Solutions

The stress is getting to me. I think I need a new drug.

Honestly, just to say that gives me pause. Are we a society now that solves our self-control problems with drugs? I hope not. There is a lot to be said for the gift of self-control. Paul talks about it in Galatians 5:

²²But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. ²⁴Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. ²⁵Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. (NIV)

Let me just say this: crucifying the old self is a little tougher than it looks. I read that passage above, and I notice that love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and gentleness all come before self-control. Honestly, I think it would be a whole lot easier to be self-controlled if I had all that other stuff going on.

We live in a world now where the idea of being bipolar is generic for "I can't control my shopping, " or "I can't control my temper." You know what? I can't control my temper either. I don't seem to have the built-in mechanism to be able to see when the stress of a situation is building, and then walk away. I truly believe there are good reasons for people to be taking antidepressants and mood stabilizers. Honestly, I think I am a walking advertisement for them.

And then again, at least for me, I think I have to take some responsibility for being self-controlled. The gifts of the Spirit do not usually come packaged in a little pill. The pill might make it infinitely easier to be self-controlled, but in real life you have to do a little more than depend on medication to make your life all better.

So today my kitchen was a colossal mess yet again, because those in my family aren't doing their jobs -- and we all have families like that at times. My solution? Clean it up. Then take out all the dishes and throw them against the brick wall of the house. No dishes = no dirty dishes to keep the kitchen an endless mess.

OK, before you think that's a bit extreme, let me give you this caveat: they were Dollar Store dishes, all chipped, and the total cost for them all was probably only about $20. My feeling was that it was cheaper than therapy. And also I have more dishes in the house that can be used; they're just put away.

I gotta tell you, throwing those dishes against that brick wall sure did feel good. And it sure did relieve some stress.

So we all have our ways of coping. Some people get ulcers, some withdraw, some even commit suicide. Some depend on medications, some altogether too much. Me, I throw dishes. Well, at least I threw them today. I thought it was a pretty creative solution, to be truthful. Anybody need some broken pottery for a mosaic?

xoxoxox