I just almost burst whenever I have an epiphany like I had today–whenever truth, seemingly clouded by confusion and doubt, breaks through and bares itself, naked and undeniable.
Wrapped in the thoughts of last week’s post about the grace of God vs. the command for obedience, seeing how we all have such differing interpretations of Scripture, left me scratching my head a little, trying to sort through it all.
But this morning, a quote from C.S. Lewis made me see something I had not seen earlier.
Get this:
“If you don’t read good books, you will read bad ones. If you don’t go on thinking rationally, you will think irrationally. If you reject aesthetic satisfaction, you will fall into sensual satisfactions.”
In other words, “LIFE DOESN’T HAVE OPTIONAL VOIDS”. (Sandra Boswell)
Do you just love it, or what?
Apply it to anything and it’s still true!
Now follow me…
I talk a lot about “deliberate” living. This is why. “If you don’t seek what is good on purpose, you will gravitate to what is bad by default.” (That’s mine.)
And this is exactly why we are saved by grace, taking NO credit for our own salvation, and are still commanded to “seek what is good”, meaning, that it’s OK to be concerned with “externals”!
Modesty on purpose, or immodesty by default….good books on purpose, or bad ones by default…virtue on purpose, or vulgarity by default. (And while we’re on the subject, building relationships on purpose, or TV junkies by default.)
The “default” is the baseness of our nature…that “flesh that wars within me” that Paul and all of us wrestle with.
This isn’t legalism. When Paul said, “Whatever things are true, whatever things are honest, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure…if there be any virtue, if there be any praise, THINK ON THESE THINGS.”
Paul was saying,
“LIVE DELIBERATELY.” “LEAN TOWARD WHAT IS GOOD AND NOBLE.”
Paul knew what Lewis knew…if you don’t think on these things, you will think on their opposites.
25 comments
Live deliberately…hmm…isn’t that the current green/new age catchphrase? 😀 Oh, how I laugh sometimes when I find “good” ideas in the world that are just copies of godly ones.
Anyhoo, yes. I like this post 😀
A great post! I think that many Christians have the incorrect idea that if someone is actually concerned with external behavior that the person must somehow have less faith. This seems so strange to me. The closer one gets to God, the more we become concerned that we please him. That means paying attention to such things as how we dress and talk. It doesn’t mean that we believe that our dress or speech saves us though.
I have never left a comment before, although I have been reading your blog for quite a while.
I think you really hit the nail on the head with this one. You sound just like my mother (that is a good thing:)
My husband tends to give people lots of grace and take things as they say they are while excusing outward behavior. I have gently reminded him that what is on the inside is reflected on the outside.
If outward behavior is garbage, chances are so are the things of their heart.
Rachel
I’m marching to the beat of the same drum! No you’re not crazy.
Sounds good to me!
Write on!
This is juicy stuff Kelly. Amen and Amen!
You are right on! I have been looking for a way to explain this myself and you have hit the nail on the head. May i quote you?:-)
Amen!! I don’t post often but that was an incredible post!
Brilliant, Kelly. I think that the philosophy of “massive gray areas” is so damaging. Secular culture is all about this eg: “We’ve been fiancés for the past 10 years.”
This whole gray area mentality is all over our current Christian culture too. People really do think they can float in a moral void. It took me a while to open my eyes to the absurdity of this thinking and it still tricks me sometimes (sinner wants to make excuses!) but it is so true, if it’s not good for you it’s not nothing, it’s bad for you!
“Apply it to anything and it’s still true!”
I don’t know about this. So many Christians have co-opted this very argument to justify their own bandwagon, trend or pet peeve. I know you’re fond of the slippery slope analogy—this idea seems to qualify.
Bettysue…
Yes you may 😉
Elizabeth,
I think I know what you’re saying…any truth can be misapplied.
But don’t miss the forest for the trees…the principle still remains. In the absence of light, darkness prevails.
Absolutely! I’ve had a difficult time communicating to my children why we don’t watch certain movies, read certain books etc. You’ve really made it beautifully clear!
I agree, which is why I named my blog “A Woman On Purpose”. We do not live in a vacuum absent of influences that affect us. I believe that there are things that affect us in ways we often don’t perceive until the Holy Spirit guides us to the corresponding truth.
As we grow in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, He points out the proper boundaries of faith and conduct, and part of that is having the grace to allow others to grow as well. It isn’t our measure that we must meet, but God’s.
This issue is one that goes back and forth in my mind. Thanks for your post. I totally agree. When I read your quote, “If you don’t seek what is good on purpose, you will gravitate to what is bad by default.” I thought about the “total depravity of man” the “T” in TULIP from reformed theology. It’s interesting this was the only point in this doctrine that Arminians agree on. It’s exactly what you are talking about, all of us have a totally depraved nature. We do have to live “intentional”. There are plenty of scriptures in the epistles that admonish us to deliberately choose to do what is good. I once heard a sermon on “the gray areas”. The preacher said if you have a question about whether something is good or bad you should always “ere” on the more conservative side. So, just some thoughts that came to my mind as I read your post.
Cornelius Van Til calls this the “Myth of Neutrality” or the “Antithesis”. Have you read him? You would love him.
Thanks for the great post.
Tina
“If you don’t read good books, you will read bad ones. If you don’t go on thinking rationally, you will think irrationally. If you reject aesthetic satisfaction, you will fall into sensual satisfactions.”-C.S.Lewis
Love that quote!
Wow! That makes an awful lot of sense.
ive discovered in life that clinging to extremes wasnt healthy for me. all it did was leave me……looking for more extremes to cling to.
just becasue we dont live extremist does not mean we will flaunder toward bad behavior or listless living. in fact, normally before we fall ANYWHERE we must test out the waters on both sides. jesus made a propitiation, when God realized we would sin regardless. everyone tries sin. its what you do after you try it, that matters. and running all the way to living so carefully and deliberately can keep people OCD. at a closer look, its not really living much better. its still sinning in fact…for some, anyway.
some cant feel void in their life because it makes them uncomfortable. so they rush to an extreme. a rule. a something. sadly, i have seen religion become the next drug of choice. but because God is mentioned, it is so easily overlooked. i mean if someone has God, they must be doing well, right?
there is so much referencing to ‘how some christians live’ around these parts. i wonder of what concern is that to anyone here? i find it much better to use time focusing on me and what im doing, how im living. it isnt our job to clean up every christian, to show them their error, to perfect them. you can speak about truth to you are blue in the face, to no avail. the world is going downhill.
what do you all think and feel when you stumble upon anothers blog or writings and they reference ‘legalists’? or birth control fanatics? dont you feel abandoned and rejected by the very body of christ?
authentically me,
No, I usually feel that they are just wrong and move on to another blog 😉 Well, that is if I read many other blogs.
To your quote:
“i find it much better to use time focusing on me and what im doing, how im living. it isnt our job to clean up every christian, to show them their error, to perfect them. you can speak about truth to you are blue in the face, to no avail. the world is going downhill.”
The Bible has a better answer than I could give:
“Brethern, if anyone among you wanders from the truth, and someone turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death…” James 5:19, 20
“When a righteous man turns from his righteousness and commits sin, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die; because you did not give him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he has done shall not be remembered; BUT HIS BLOOD i WILL REQUIRE AT YOUR HAND.”
See, my problem with this “movement” that says it doesn’t really matter about how we live, or speaking the truth to others, or exhorting Christians to be holy–my problem with your theology is that it is YOUR theology. Not God’s.
It’s easy to embrace the “new-aged” flavored gospel; but it’s not the gospel. I’m not saying that angrily or boastfully…rather, humbly and broken-heartedly, so that your blood will not be required at my hand.
*** I once heard a sermon on “the gray areas”. The preacher said if you have a question about whether something is good or bad you should always “ere” on the more conservative side.***
if we have a question whether something is ‘good or ‘bad’, would it really be nessarily more godly to error on the side of conservatism? why? what right does any preacher have to decide this for another human being? is he willing to take responsibility should that be an erroneous choice for someone, later down the line?
concerning brushing my teeth, its probably ‘better’ (better is a judgmental word, imo)to brush 3 times a day, and if ive only brushed once that day, and its now 11pm and i am already down to a possible two brushings but im tired and stressed and i have good reason to be both those things, so i forego the brushing, resulting in but one mere lousy brushing that day.
how far do i take this ‘erroring on the side of conservatism?’i mean, i might get cavities. if i look closely at biblical teaching, my body is a temple. i am to care for it. geez, maybe on another hand, if i didnt eat so much junk….oh well. that reminds me….i forgot my daily calcium vitamin too.
ruh roh….now i have the unthinkable. a cavity. $$$ ching ching. see the mess ive made (judgment). now my husband has to fork over money….all due to my laziness (judgment). if only i would have done the right thing…..and collectively brushed my teeth, taken my vitamins and ate as close to perfect as possible(judgment)…then…..THEN id be doing the very possible best(judgment). but i failed (judgment). my external behavior rotts!
where does it end? for that matter, where does it begin? that is one minute area of life and although it probably isnt as grave as others, it can have results. cavities. and if i dont learn from my cavities, ill just get another. then removal of cavity. then another. then i try again to brush 3 times a day. it lasts awhile. later on, i become enthralled with a new area of life…..gardening. i must grow my own garden so we eat better…..but as i spend more time on my garden, my teeth suffer…..once again…cavity time!
i mean, i cant do it all. im human. is this an excuse? i think not. its a reason.
people can easily get so strapped into perfecting every area of life to the 9845th degree. and it wont matter much, depending on what its fueled by.
today as it stands, all of us here are blinded today to something that will later become aware to us.
i find it a fine line between trying to live perfectly for God, and trying to live perfectly for oneself. as i find myself meandering through life……i realize something……my standards and Gods seldom match…….it is too easy to facade oneself. instead, i just wait. i wait for a new revelation, everyday. until then, i dont worry about what side to error on. but when i do decide-i know it will be all mine, spoken from God…..not another battle of my will to be perfect, or deliberate, or whatever.
true grace doesnt become permissive, or encourage it…..not any more than rigid rules do. they are both extremes. they both manifest differently, though often have the same outcome. true grace permeates people, and changes them. some of us have been beaten down with shame, and need tons of grace. we need time to relearn how grace oeprates. to get rid of mental bombardment of shame messages tooting their horn in our mind….in our hearts. this is a process.
while i do see some ‘minimizing of sin going on today, i also see exaggeration of it. it works both ways. but to say that grace itslelf is responsible for the minimizing of sin, doesnt make sense. that isnt grace…..its probably meaning to be, but doesnt give the affected individual the right tools to move beyond it. grace plus accountability plus tools has worked well for me. i shame myself enough-i dont need anyone else to give me an extra heaping.
PS…..to Kelli……that is funny, cause i think your theology sounds like YOURS and not Gods. i rather think each individual contributes to enlightening God through them……but no one can do it alone, wholly. i show and reveal one side of God, you another. the only way a person IMO can truly have complete doctrine, is to embrace unity of the body of christ. the bible itself isnt enough because it needs illumination from gods people……..GIFTS. we all have them. if you cut yourself off, your doctrine remains simple….and erroneous.
i also do not think its unimportant how people live. i am not advocating that.
rarely have i met a person who is flat out 100% wrong. normally, there is a degree of something……anything…that i can learn from that person. when we see things as ‘right/wrong’ or ‘black/white’, we miss out on so much in between. thats my opinion, anyway.
authentically yours,
I’ll try to wrap this up briefly since this debate has hit a wall.
You seem to be using a whole lot of words, without much meaning.
I’m not sure what part of this post or any other you’re exactly in disagreement with.
Be clear…I have never set forth a “rule in stone” here…a standard by which I’m telling people they should live. One comme thread among readers with the free-grace theology is they comment to a general post, and interject all kinds of assumptions in defense of their gospel. ???
You said,
“while i do see some ‘minimizing of sin going on today, i also see exaggeration of it. it works both ways.”
This is scary. How can one exaggerate sin? God calls it an abomination. He says it crucifies His Son. Yes, we sin. Fact. But the minute we become OK with it, look at it with any less horror than our Holy God, that is when we have bought into a heresy.
It was our sin that sent Jesus to the cross…how dare we become comfortable with it, just because it is already paid for?
AM,
“instead, i just wait. i wait for a new revelation, everyday. until then, i dont worry about what side to error on. but when i do decide-i know it will be all mine, spoken from God…..not another battle of my will to be perfect, or deliberate, or whatever.”
This smacks of New Age flavor, not of the Word of God.
Having the Spirit within us allows us to know the already revealed will of God. We don’t have to wait for a new, personal revelation to understand who God is, or what He wants.
This is one of the biggest fallacies of “the new kind of Christian”.
AM,
Quick question…would you align yourself with the postmodern movement? The emergent church movement? Do you ascribe to any certain theology that would help me better understand where you’re coming from and what you’re refuting? What do you believe?
all im saying is that im no longer super-uptight with what i understand today, verses tomorrow. i do firmly believe there is room to further understand God, more each passing day. i dont see how nayone can have arrived in perfect understanding of him…..i depend on revelations daily. god uses things in this world to grab my attention. if it sound New-Agy…..so be it. i dont really care. i know who i adore…….and it aint New Age. i know who meets the needs of my inner most being. i know whose wisdom enlightens and guides me. i know im not a fake, or phony…….or misled to the degree some think i am.
i dont align myself with anyone. i refuse to. if i sound like some other entity or spiritual practice…..its purely coincidental. i dont bandwagon anymore. it was very unhealthy for me. i dont question my process……casue it wasnt due to some preacher, author, or group. it was just me and God……..and a few isolated persons along the way he used.
my posts have been all over the place. sometimes i can articulate quite well. ive lost my linguisitc self somewhere, recently. ive been told my posts come off sloppy at times…..and that i dont use my ellipses properly. hahahaha…..maybe one day soon ill wake up linguisitically restored. i hope so.