I thought today about what it truly meant to be a Christian... I mean really ... not in some religious idea or notion but truly what the reality of it all is...
Wow!!! My goodness I can't wait to run into another one.. .matter of fact I'm searching them out... have you ever been around one... I just have never experienced love and acceptance like that... I have never felt so alive or full of hope....
In her eyes I saw compassion and in her voice I heard a kindness like I have never known.... in her hands when she touched my arm was such a warm gentle feeling that the sense of being around her was that she was just from a totally other place.....
And I just can't wait to see her again.. I can't wait to talk to her again... I can't wait to be around her again.... I know there is something about her that I just don't have and I truly need to ask her about that..... the joy that just erupted from her is something I just so desire for myself and I need what she has......
Would that be the response of someone if you asked them if they had ever met a Christian? It should be.. for even if someone doesn't agree with the tenements of the faith the interactions they have with one would be marvelous if it was ...
Now I sort of cringe at using the word should... because in all honesty I think a lot of performance orientation within the Christian faith come from all the shoulds of religion.... and performance will never create a Christian like the one the first paragraphs talk about... no adherence to every facet of the faith will create one like those first paragraphs describe.....
You know what will? Seriously... you know what will...
Being first loved.... being loved by the Father so alters the way everything about life is perceived.... especially the faith walk .... I'm not a performing monkey or a marionette... I am not full of fear that I have to adhere to some white and black set of standards as to inherit eternal life ....
It was for freedom that He set me free.... not so that I could then live in bondage to the pharisaical terrors of a Christian religion....
I love my life as a person who would consider themselves a Christian... but it is only because I have been granted access to the Father and His love.... I have been given a gift of life and liberty and freedom and joy and peace.... in this world... in this world that is so full of so much other than that... that I get to walk in all of what I said is nothing less than absolutely amazing.....
That in all the trials and all the tribulations and in all the fears that plague our world today.. I don't have to succumb to them ... I know the one who has overcome them all...
And I don't have to do anything to know Him.... I don't have to jump through hoops... I don't have to wear heavy weights of religion or performance in order for Him to love me.... I don't... I can do anything and be anything and He still loves me...... His love doesn't judge me... His love doesn't condemn me.... He pours out His affections upon me and woos my heart towards His ways....
Yes... His ways.... He has ways.... and they are beautiful... His ways.. His thoughts are higher than ..... He loves us no matter what whether we adhere to His ways or not.... However in living in His ways I am not tethered to living some horrifically narrow existence... no in His ways there is only liberty and love and joy..
and guess what ..
I am brought to a place where I repent for every time as a Christian I didn't show His ways... I didn't show His ways but I showed my own... That though I acted in His name it was in my own name that I lived and ventured and interacted with you....
I am committed to making that different... not to perform for you... because you'll see right through that... but to live with Him and be with Him because then what you'll see is Him.... and I'll tell you if you really get to see Him you will never ever be the same..... I know that for a fact... because I know Him....
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