Skip to main content

You Had One Rule!?!

You had one rule! One. Rule!!!!

That's what I would say to Adam and Eve. I imagine that's what a lot of people would say to Adam and Eve. 

We have lots of rules. In fact, you can even find books of ridiculous rules that have been made. For every dumb thing that has been done, a dumber rule has been made to keep it from happening again. 

For example...
In the state of Florida, if an elephant is left tied to a parking meter, the parking fee has to be paid just as it would for a vehicle. Well....yeah!

In the state of Indiana, it is illegal to catch a fish with your bare hands. So much for the days of letting men be men.

We have so many rules, in fact, that we have arguments over interpretations of these rules. Adam and Eve broke their one rule. We break every rule. Perhaps rules are not the problem. My belief is that they are not the solution either. 

For the solution, we turn to Ephesians 2:8-10. Recently I shared this with the youth of our church, telling them they were God's masterpiece. 

I started the discussion by asking them to share the worst thing they had seen someone else do. I would have asked for them to confess their own sins, but I was trying to promote discussion, not do a group impression of a room full of crickets. 

(By the way, the most random sin they came up with was some guy who supposedly burned a box of kittens. People are sick.)

After each instance of someone else's stupidity error in judgment, I would say to them, 'That's not enough to keep God's grace from you.' 

After that, I asked them to list the good things they have done recently. This list was a bit easier, since who doesn't like being invited to pat yourself on the back. Am I right?

With each good deed listed, I replied, 'That's not why God saved you.'

And it's true. There's nothing we have done so awful that kept God from dying for our salvation and extending His invitation of grace our way. AND...there's nothing we have done so great that God sat back and said, 'Well, we gotta give him a seat in Heaven.'

My hunch is that you're nodding along in agreement with this...at least, in your head. If so, I have a question for you. 

Why?

Why do we still hold out all these rules and standards above people's heads, as if dangling a carrot above their heads? While we may understand that grace and faith should naturally lead a Christ-follower to good deeds, don't we understand yet that the carrot we dangle looks rotten? Even for those who hunger for something...anything that offers more in life than what they are currently experiencing, holding out the measuring rod only serves to keep others at a safe distance. 

If the tables were turned, Jesus might be the one asking us why. Why don't we offer more of the free gift that was offered to us?
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Accountable

I recently officiated a wedding. The ceremony was simple, lovely, and ended with another couple professing to keep the covenant of marriage. But it all started with a clarification...from me. At our first premarital counseling session, as I have done with every couple I have agreed to marry, I clarified a couple of matters. First, I officiate Christian weddings, where both spouses-to-be are professing Christians. I firmly believe that marriage is difficult enough, without adding disagreements about God into the mix. Second, as a minister of Jesus Christ, I believe the pastor’s role in a wedding is to represent the blessing of God on that union. So we have several sessions of premarital counseling where we discuss married life. It’s not that I have this imaginary card in my head, with a picture of me on the front and my stats on the back. (You know, like a baseball card.) Ok, I do picture cards. Pastor cards! And being a competitive guy, I want my stats to look good. The number of coupl...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Facebook Maybe

Granted, I'm a pastor. I have Type-A tendencies. Ok, my tendencies border on freakish OCD behavior patterns, but... Few things bother me more than the Facebook 'maybe'. I suppose I could go on and on about the grey areas of our society and the refusal of people to accept absolute standards. I could discuss the great need of people to accept that what is wrong for one person is likely wrong for everyone. I should certainly be concerned about mentioning that someone might have sin in their life. But I don't believe the Facebook 'maybe' is quite sin. Perhaps if I were coming up with new sins, I would add this to the list. But alas... Some might think the Facebook 'maybe' did not exist prior to the Internet, but they would be wrong. When I was in high school and asked a girl out on a date, I would normally be told that if they had no other plans, if nobody else called them, if there was nothing good on television and their hair did not need washing, then per...
5 comments
Read more

But I Wanted It

As I've said before , I'm looking for a new place to do youth ministry. Job searching in itself can be a full time task. Unfortunately, no one is paying me to look for a job. And when you haven't had to find a job in 15 years, the whole experience can feel brand new. And nerve-wracking. And quiet. So very, very quiet. I may spend a few hours here and there sending out my resumes and writing cover letters. But the churches I'm sending my information to have their own timeline. And sometimes that timeline does not involve acknowledging my presence. Which is fine, especially if one of the churches I've applied to is reading this right now. I understand those looking for youth pastors will have their own agenda and their own timeline. But it leaves me sitting here with a deafening quiet around me. I am choosing to walk by faith through these days, picturing God working behind the scenes (always behind the scenes) and holding His voice very still, until He is re...
2 comments
Read more