The World, often in reaction to the Pharisee, wants to throw out all rules, and sees all attempts at restraint as oppressive, old fashioned and guilt inducing. The problem, when we do this, is that we find that there are unwanted consequences to our behaviour. Some of us have learned from the school of hard knocks that when God says “No,” He does it for our provision and protection. Protection in the same way a parent tells the child “Do not touch the hot stove.” Provision because the things which entice us so often keep us from true freedom, true intimacy and the joy and peace that a relationship with God brings.
Jesus told us that the thief comes for no other reason but to kill and to steal and to destroy, but that He came to bring fullness of life. The thief stole a lot from me, but the Lord brought me a joy and a peace that I would not trade for anything. It is available to all, but we need to let go of the things that hinder and embrace His way, His will and His free gift of life. His invitation remains, He is waiting to be gracious to us!
I find that our biggest mistake towards Our Creator is thinking we know so much. Lets think about that, we live in a culture where knowledge has grown exponentially. One could go online from any part of the world and study a topic and go offline and potentially apply what our new found expertise. It becomes easy to be self-opinionated and like a new comer we can dive into our own ideas of a reality that may in fact not be accurate. Today, we have online many believers that have dumped the traditional idea of church, and thrown off the need to be committed to anything but themselves or their interests. This danger is akin to what you been speaking of,Phil, that is, the child thinks they are the parent and is inclined to touch that stove and ignore those that would speak contrary to traditional wisdom. It is so important to not ignore the reality that many of those before us do carry a torch, and this life is much like a relay race.
ReplyDeleteI wonder how skewed we are towards Father God, and also towards his own children?