The Point part 1
Sometimes I get a little bit dejected when I see what people are talking about. Especially regarding "religion," or God. I don't want to mention any names, or heap any condemnation on anybody, but when I see people who are getting excited by the idea of God, "really sticking it to those who won't confess His name," I have to shake my head. It's bewildering to me that we would actually get pumped up about people being punished. And I'm not saying that God doesn't chasten and correct the Son that He loves. There's absolutely that aspect of Fatherhood. But I don't think God is in the punishment business. I don't think God is mad at us. So, when I read things like that my thought is, "Wow. Talk about missing the point." And then on the other side of the coin I see things about how you need to act. What you need to do in order to "sanctify yourself" and "be holy." And I think, "Wow. Talk about missing the point." Jesus said it like this, "You're hopeless, you religion scholars and Pharisees! Frauds! You keep meticulous account books, tithing on every nickel and dime you get, but on the meat of God's Law, things like fairness and compassion and commitment--the absolute basics!--you carelessly take it or leave it. Careful bookkepping is commendable, but the basics are required. Do you have any idea how silly you look, writing a life story that's wrong from start to finish, nitpicking over commas and semicolons?" (Matthew 23:23-24 MSG). We seem to focus on all the wrong things. What people do and not who people are. I'm absolutely convinced that if we stopped telling people what to do, and started telling people who they are, then they would begin to DO the things they do OUT of who they are! You can't fix behavior unless you fix identity. What you do flows from what you believe--from WHO you believe that you are. And that's the point. It's not about religion. It's not about jumping through hoops in order to be accepted. It's about relationship. It's about knowing and believing that you ARE accepted in the beloved. All of these different ideas about God. All of these different gods out there... and yes, I know there are a bunch of them. But there's only one true and living God. And His name is Jesus. His name is love. That's the point. That's what's important. That's our building block. That's where everything else comes from. Is it good to "be holy"? Of course it is. But holiness is not something you DO, it's something you ARE, because of the Holy Spirit that lives in you. As long as we are focued on external things--tithing, behavior, circumstances, what have you--then we are missing the point. It's what's inside that matters. The hidden man of the heart. What's in the heart. As you think in your heart, so are you. And when you understand that it's God's heart beating (with love) in your chest... when the circumcision made without hands gets the flesh of external human effort out of the way... then you can stop focusing on all that other junk and you can get to the point. Guys... It's all about love. That's the point. And everything else is just details. We need to get back to basics, and it doesn't get any more basic than this: God loves you. And because He loves you, you can love Him back by loving other people!