3. A little bit weird
So, if I've been following all these rules really well, and other people think I've got it together, why would I decide to buck the system?
From what I have read and understand of the Bible, the character of Jesus is predominantly expressed as love for others. Who the others are and how He showed this love are what I've been humbled to think about. The people Jesus loved on most consistently were often marginalized. That means people who weren't the mainstream, the commonly accepted mold.
Jesus cared for tax collectors, prostitutes, adulterers, the mentally unstable, the sick, the poor. He showed love by meeting the needs of these people, and by being who He was were they were. Jesus didn't sit in the synagogue and wait for people to come to Him, nor did He expand His ministry by asking them to come to church.
Jesus had real relationships with people. He went to weddings (where He even made wine, if he were Baptist I'm sure it would have been just grape juice) and celebrated with people. He went to funerals and grieved with people (Lazarus' family). He ate dinner with people at their houses, not just at the fellowship dinner.
Jesus spent a lot of time teaching his disciples, but it was usually an object lesson to be learned by watching Him care for people. So were does this leave me? I guess it means that I feel like I've spent a good deal of my life learning how to make myself more righteous, but not enough time in relationships with people who don't necessarily associate themselves with church. I want to make sure the excess I have goes to help someone instead of upgrading my vehicle or tv. Even though I might say I don't condemn someone's actions, if I won't be their friend or get to know their heart, am I really being Christlike to them?
So now I try to ask myself what it would look like if I lived like Jesus now.
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Yak as in chat, not the hairy creature, although both seem apropos....
5 comments:
All this yammering wasn't in angst at my home life or parental raising. I think you guys are the reason I learned to look past all the rhetoric and posturing involved with church. I saw you live your lives authentically, and love me unconditionally. You both demonstrated Christ to me more effectively than anyone else.
Nor was this rant in anger at having structure and discipline, far too many people I know didn't have that growing up and have had some hard knocks to prove it.
What it is about stems mostly from my years in the youth group at FBC, and in college. I saw how many sunday school classes and small groups majored on behaviors mostly associated with a common image. This image came across very pharasaical to me and I think it was my early childhood rasing and values that you both exemplified that this very fake way of life did not ring true with.
I think that much of what is consistent and authentic about my character, I learned from my parents.
I am deeply sorry if this blog appeared to state otherwise. It was meant to voice and hopefully articulate some long pent-up dissatisfaction with the shortcomings of organized religion and duality among some Christian denominations.
Well said, FuzzyDad... I know exactly where you're coming from. You aren't pointing the finger at your loving parents, but you are taking responsibility for yourself. I too know what it's like to get caught up in the dangerous "church" game. We must always work hard to keep Christ the focus, and not our own place in the social structure of the church. That said, I agree with Grammy that it is all by His Grace that we even have the joy of knowing Him! And therefore, we find it in our hearts to forgive the mistakes of others as he forgives ours.
Scout and Phaedo wanted to follow your inspiring blog . . . hope that's ok with you.
EJ
"The father of a man in right standing with God has great joy; he who has a wise son delights in him. May your father and mother be glad; may she who gave you birth rejoice!"...Proverbs 23:24-25(New International and Amplified version).
I am thankful for a son who desires to rightly divide the truth, and who has a deep abiding passion to follow the lover of his soul...Jesus Christ.
May God bless your efforts to seek Him in all you do and say.
I LOVE YOU!
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