Driving into work in the mornings I listen to the radio, I am not fancy enough to be able to listen to my iPod while driving. On this particular morning they were mentioning the 'Albany 7'. This is a group of co-workers from Albany, New York that have pooled their money together for years and buy lottery tickets together. Well, finally they struck it big and won the $331 Million jackpot. Makes me think about starting a pool at church. Sounds great right? After taxes each person gets $19 million, nice little nest egg. The catch is, there weren't seven people pitching in to by a ticket this time, only 6. Seems one of the group stated that they didn't feel lucky that week so they didn't put in. So the radio host wanted people to call in and say what they would do, would they let the person have part of the winnings being they had put in every time except for this one time. Well, as you may suspect all the callers stated pretty much the same thing. "He didn't feel lucky and guess what? He wasn't. I am not sharing anything." There were a couple of callers that said they would slide a couple of thousand his way. But one person said that they would extend a full share. How did they know that by this person not participating that it affected the luck of the entire group and that is why they won. So I got to thinking, after I had immediately responded, "Heck no! I isn't sharing nothing", would I really do that? Could I just cut my friend out of this greatness.
Would Jesus?
I know, I just threw a Jesus Juke (for a definition of a Jesus Juke, please see What Christians Like by Jon Accuff, hilarious). The point is, if I decided to not read my bible, or pray or even skipped church this Sunday, would Jesus say, "Sorry, can't help you out today, you didn't show me the love so I ain't showing you the love either." How far does grace go? If I look at a particularly attractive women and think about how nice it would be to have a relationship with her and then get run over by the bus that I didn't see because I was breaking my neck watching the before mention women walk away, do I go to hell as a lusting sinner? Jesus did say that the thought is as important as the actual deed. If I am rocking to The Deftones and drop dead from a heart attack, do I get points deducted for not listening to David Crowder as I was taking my dying breathe?
I think this is something that a lot of people kind of avoid making a definitive statement about. It is kind of a slippery slope thing. If I say it is ok to do this, where do I draw the line. Do I just make sure that I do nothing that even hints at maybe not possibly being "Christian"? Isn't that how we get drawn into legalism. Remember the Pharisees? They weren't bad followers of the law, they were uber followers of the law. They were so scared of offending God, of breaking the law that they would not even get close to doing anything that might in anyway lead to the breaking of the law. It is like saying, murder is against God's commandment, so everyone needs to be vegetarians, because killing animals might lead to killing people. Doesn't make a whole lot of sense does it? I know we don't want to admit it, but there are a lot of Pharisees wearing the Christian label right now. And I am not saying that to cause division or make fun of anyone or even to call for a revolution in our church and letting everyone do whatever they want.
What do you think? How much grace do we get and when does it stop? Do you have some areas that you are "Pharisitical" about? Tell us about it.
P.S. I want to give a shout out to my new followers, Thanks Guys! Makes me feel good and gets me excited to think that you actually care about what I got to say.
Would Jesus?
I know, I just threw a Jesus Juke (for a definition of a Jesus Juke, please see What Christians Like by Jon Accuff, hilarious). The point is, if I decided to not read my bible, or pray or even skipped church this Sunday, would Jesus say, "Sorry, can't help you out today, you didn't show me the love so I ain't showing you the love either." How far does grace go? If I look at a particularly attractive women and think about how nice it would be to have a relationship with her and then get run over by the bus that I didn't see because I was breaking my neck watching the before mention women walk away, do I go to hell as a lusting sinner? Jesus did say that the thought is as important as the actual deed. If I am rocking to The Deftones and drop dead from a heart attack, do I get points deducted for not listening to David Crowder as I was taking my dying breathe?
I think this is something that a lot of people kind of avoid making a definitive statement about. It is kind of a slippery slope thing. If I say it is ok to do this, where do I draw the line. Do I just make sure that I do nothing that even hints at maybe not possibly being "Christian"? Isn't that how we get drawn into legalism. Remember the Pharisees? They weren't bad followers of the law, they were uber followers of the law. They were so scared of offending God, of breaking the law that they would not even get close to doing anything that might in anyway lead to the breaking of the law. It is like saying, murder is against God's commandment, so everyone needs to be vegetarians, because killing animals might lead to killing people. Doesn't make a whole lot of sense does it? I know we don't want to admit it, but there are a lot of Pharisees wearing the Christian label right now. And I am not saying that to cause division or make fun of anyone or even to call for a revolution in our church and letting everyone do whatever they want.
What do you think? How much grace do we get and when does it stop? Do you have some areas that you are "Pharisitical" about? Tell us about it.
P.S. I want to give a shout out to my new followers, Thanks Guys! Makes me feel good and gets me excited to think that you actually care about what I got to say.
1 comment:
Being your average rational American, and lacking all artistic propensity, I like things black and white (clear cut). The answer seems tough, but I will try to make it simple for my simple mind. God gives a lot of grace. The Christian who commits a sin moments before dying (without the chance to repent), should find God gracious towards his/her actions, b/c their relationship is not hinging on one moments action. If not, then we all have temporary moments of "limbo" where our salvation is up for grabs (creating a quasi purgatory state for the living). But the person who once lived for God, but then gave up on it, and this moment of sin is part of the bigger picture of walking away, this moment would be hazardous for them. Overall, we can't look at people and fully know where they are at w/ God, but God sees the truth within. So if God's grace was like the lottery, and you sat out a week, He would have you covered.
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