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Tuesday, September 06, 2005
Freedom
My graduation gift from my church youth pastor when I was in high school was something called "The Spiritual Journey Notebook." It was a small, three-ring binder with all sorts of tagged dividers to separate the pages (which you could easily order for refills) for various aspects of the spiritual life. You know...Bible verses to memorize and check off. Areas of service in the church to check off. Bible study plans to do and check off. Giving records to keep up with. Missionaries to pray for. Other lists of things to pray for.
I think it's fair to say that it was a pretty comprehensive day planner.
And I became a slave to it.
I know that the people who gave it to me were very well meaning. In fact, I'm sure it was their firm conviction that they were downright helpful. And, truly, I did appreciate the gesture.
But my spiritual life became this checklist to complete.
I'd read a section and check it off.
I'd memorize a verse or two and check them off.
I'd sub for a Sunday School clas and check it off.
I'd give and check that off, too.
I'd pray for missionaries and teachers and pastors and check it all off.
I tried. I really did.
But then these well-intentioned (and certainly helpful to anyone's spiritual growth) lists were robbing me of the joy of my walk with Christ. I was doing things only to check them off.
And then it haunted me when I left it alone.
When things weren't so structured when I went off to college, it sat on the shelf. A reminder of all the things I was SUPPOSED to be doing. Which only increased my guilt factor and that robbed me of my joy, too.
Then my bible study somehow veered off on a tangent one night during our Bible study of Romans. We wound up in Galatians and talked about the verses from chapter 5. From the Message, they read:
"It is absolutely clear that God has called you to live a free life. Just make sure that you don't use this freedom as an excuse to do whatever you want to do and destroy your freedom. Rather, use your freedom to serve one another in love. That's how freedom grows. For everything we know about God's Word is summed up in a single sentence: Love others as you love yourself. That's an act of true freedom..."
A free life!
How in the world of an entire year of intense spiritual growth and me miss that? Freedom really never sounded so good.
It wasn't about lists...it was about showing love to others.
And man, can we as Christians make lists, too. Movies, music. Television. Books. Clothes. Political leanings. Hair length. You name it. We can make lists...and sometimes the lists are actually beneficial in their inception.
But the ends DO NOT justify the means in this case. Or in any real case I can think of off-hand.
But we're supposed to be living free. That's the bottom line.
So, for today, what have you been a slave to? How do these verses affect that? What are the dangers of this freedom, and how do you balance that out?
Brent 4:02 AM
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