Removing the Buttons Intro
We have a truck that I rarely drive, mainly because it's huge and I much rather prefer my compact little Accord. But this morning I had to take it to work, so I found myself going down the interstate, trying to get the time displayed on the dash.
(My dash insisted on showing me the radio station. If any of you are car-radio programmers out there, please know I can remember what station I'm on after about 5 seconds. Then can you please make it show the time again? Thank you.)
So anyway (this story is taking WAAAYYY too long) this dash has about 50 buttons on it, and I know there's one that says "clock" on it. But it takes me forever to find it. And I ask out loud, "Do I really need all these buttons?"
And instantly my thoughts on dash buttons take me to my faith. We 21st century Christians are much like the first century Pharisees, making up a bunch of rules for what it means to follow God. "Buttons," I'm going to call them. The Pharisees officially had 613 rules, mostly clarifications so that everyone would know what God really meant in His commands. (That sounds like a joke, but I'm serious.) I don't know the exact number we have, but there are dozens.
We have way too many buttons of faith. And we get overwhelmed by all we should and shouldn't do.
Some of our buttons are more important than others (the Pharisees had "heavy" and "light" rules) and some buttons are okay depending on where you live (like smoking, drinking, and using swear words; I know Christians who, depending on their environment, claim that maybe some or all or none of these are fine for believers).
You've probably heard the rules that "Christians" follow : Christians don't watch certain movies, they don't listen to certain types of music, they definitely don't _________ (fill in the blank here with what you've been told), they don't say certain words (though other words that seem just as bad are okay), they would never go in certain places, they would never wear certain clothes, especially if you're a girl, they would never...well, you get the point. You've heard it all. Buttons everywhere.
(And you know that most of those buttons are certainly not found in the Bible, right?)
It's hard to be a Christian because there are so. many. rules.
Or is it? Is it really hard, or do we make it hard?
Are there really lots of rules? Or have we created lots of rules?
Because though following God requires sacrifice and giving up ourselves (Luke 9:23), Jesus never made it sound like being a Christian required following a bunch of rules.
In Mark 12:28, an expert on what the Scriptures said asked Jesus, "Of all the commandments, which is the most important?" and Jesus answered, "The most important one is this: Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength," (Mark 12:28-30, NIV).
Love God. Most important thing.
"But I love God. Really," you say. To which I'd reply, "Hang on just a minute. You don't know what love is."
"Of course I know what love is!" you're thinking. "It's when your overwhelming feelings of admiration for someone are strong and you are overcome with fondness for a person."
And I'd tell you, "That's human love."
[Okay. Enough fake conversation between us.] :)
You see, Jesus has already told us what it means to love Him: "Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me," (John 14:21, NIV).
So our first command--love--means this: know Jesus' commands and obey them.
"What kind of logical fallacy is this?" some of you are asking. "You spend the first page of this blog saying we had too many rules and now you're saying that to love Jesus is to obey Him! I thought this was about removing the buttons!"
But there's a big difference between obeying a bunch of rules set up by current-day Christians and obeying Jesus.
So for the next few days let's look at what it really means to obey Jesus. To find yourself listening to His rules and His commands and nothing else. What if we find that being a Christian is really nothing like you thought it would be? What if you see that Jesus gave us rules that, instead of paralyzing our lives, SET US FREE?
"If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free," (John 8:32, NIV).
No more buttons. Just real obedience based on knowledge of Christ.
I can't wait to start digging with you!
Don't miss a post! Please subscribe by putting your email address in at the top right. You'll have to actually check your email and verify you really meant to sign up.
Also, thanks for the emails! I'd love to notebook with you!
myleslienotebook@gmail.com
(My dash insisted on showing me the radio station. If any of you are car-radio programmers out there, please know I can remember what station I'm on after about 5 seconds. Then can you please make it show the time again? Thank you.)
So anyway (this story is taking WAAAYYY too long) this dash has about 50 buttons on it, and I know there's one that says "clock" on it. But it takes me forever to find it. And I ask out loud, "Do I really need all these buttons?"
And instantly my thoughts on dash buttons take me to my faith. We 21st century Christians are much like the first century Pharisees, making up a bunch of rules for what it means to follow God. "Buttons," I'm going to call them. The Pharisees officially had 613 rules, mostly clarifications so that everyone would know what God really meant in His commands. (That sounds like a joke, but I'm serious.) I don't know the exact number we have, but there are dozens.
We have way too many buttons of faith. And we get overwhelmed by all we should and shouldn't do.
Some of our buttons are more important than others (the Pharisees had "heavy" and "light" rules) and some buttons are okay depending on where you live (like smoking, drinking, and using swear words; I know Christians who, depending on their environment, claim that maybe some or all or none of these are fine for believers).
You've probably heard the rules that "Christians" follow : Christians don't watch certain movies, they don't listen to certain types of music, they definitely don't _________ (fill in the blank here with what you've been told), they don't say certain words (though other words that seem just as bad are okay), they would never go in certain places, they would never wear certain clothes, especially if you're a girl, they would never...well, you get the point. You've heard it all. Buttons everywhere.
(And you know that most of those buttons are certainly not found in the Bible, right?)
It's hard to be a Christian because there are so. many. rules.
Or is it? Is it really hard, or do we make it hard?
Are there really lots of rules? Or have we created lots of rules?
Because though following God requires sacrifice and giving up ourselves (Luke 9:23), Jesus never made it sound like being a Christian required following a bunch of rules.
In Mark 12:28, an expert on what the Scriptures said asked Jesus, "Of all the commandments, which is the most important?" and Jesus answered, "The most important one is this: Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength," (Mark 12:28-30, NIV).
Love God. Most important thing.
"But I love God. Really," you say. To which I'd reply, "Hang on just a minute. You don't know what love is."
"Of course I know what love is!" you're thinking. "It's when your overwhelming feelings of admiration for someone are strong and you are overcome with fondness for a person."
And I'd tell you, "That's human love."
[Okay. Enough fake conversation between us.] :)
You see, Jesus has already told us what it means to love Him: "Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me," (John 14:21, NIV).
So our first command--love--means this: know Jesus' commands and obey them.
"What kind of logical fallacy is this?" some of you are asking. "You spend the first page of this blog saying we had too many rules and now you're saying that to love Jesus is to obey Him! I thought this was about removing the buttons!"
But there's a big difference between obeying a bunch of rules set up by current-day Christians and obeying Jesus.
So for the next few days let's look at what it really means to obey Jesus. To find yourself listening to His rules and His commands and nothing else. What if we find that being a Christian is really nothing like you thought it would be? What if you see that Jesus gave us rules that, instead of paralyzing our lives, SET US FREE?
"If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free," (John 8:32, NIV).
No more buttons. Just real obedience based on knowledge of Christ.
I can't wait to start digging with you!
Don't miss a post! Please subscribe by putting your email address in at the top right. You'll have to actually check your email and verify you really meant to sign up.
Also, thanks for the emails! I'd love to notebook with you!
myleslienotebook@gmail.com
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