We're taught from our baby Christian days on that Bible study and prayer are the keys to a successful relationship with Christ. I'm not here to dispute that notion, but my experience has shown me it's a little more complicated than that. I don't think it's supposed to be complicated - Jesus was the one who said his yoke is easy and his burden is light. I think that like the rabbis of old who took the fairly straightforward law and turned it into something far more complicated, we are guilty of the same crime: taking the simple Gospel and muddying it up with self-help books cleverly disguised as something spiritual...with opinions and interpretations and ideas about what the Bible REALLY means. Why would I call them "self-help" books? Because, as Flyboy preached this morning, we don't get better by trying harder - we get better, or become fruit-bearers (thus fulfilling our purpose), by clinging to the vine. Books and more books are written with the latest and greatest answer to the question, "how is the Christian life meant to be lived?" If you just pray this prayer, if you just read the Bible in a year, if you follow these steps...whatever the flavor of the day prescribes...you can live the life God called you to live.
I remember a certain discipleship program I participated in many years ago. One of the boxes to check was a quiet time 14 days in a row. If you missed one day, you had to start counting all over again, and you couldn't move on until you completed the task of 14 quiet times in a row. I walked away from that exercise with two feelings. One, I did sense a genuine gratitude for the push to develop that kind of a habit, having been to that point unsuccessful. But second, I felt little empty, like I had not really gotten any farther in knowing or loving God...I'd just checked off a box and could now graduate to the next book.
So what is the answer? More Bible study? More prayer? There was a little song we sang with our kids when they were little: "Obedience is the very best way to show that you believe, doing exactly as the Lord commands, doing it happily." Besides Bible study and prayer, this is another common answer for how to get it together as a Christian - be obedient. I think I try to be obedient. I'm certainly not trying to be disobedient. What's missing?
I've been pondering this a lot lately, and I think that the way to peace with God is even easier than the four steps Billy Graham incorporated into a little tract in the 60s. It's certainly easier than a lifetime of willing oneself to be more obedient while trying to discover the right combination of doing my part and allowing God to do His. It's not meant to be hard or complicated or something where a cipher code has to be broken in order to figure it out. We are the goofy ones that make it so much harder than it really is.
I think the answer is so close I can smell it.
Just this week my friend Karleen and I were sharing about how this really is a bit of a mystery. As we grow in love with God and come to know Him through His word, through prayer, the work of His Spirit as is transforms the interior of our lives obedience to Him is no longer keeping a checklist of dos and don'ts.
ReplyDeleteWe begin to sense what He desires of us. We begin to know Him so well we know what would bring Him joy and that is what we want to do. Marriage is a great analogy, I think, because as we grow over the years to know our husbands more intimately, when we are "one." We know how to please and serve them often without their asking. Our husbands often wish from us things they wouldn't look for in anyone else. The relationship is so individual, they wouldn't think it odd that others may not incorporate it into their marriage.
As I have come to know God, what he wants for and from me, I have realized that He lets me know, if I just listen, watch, and wait. When we delight ourselves in Him, obedience is no longer a list, or an arduous task or discipline. It is becomes my heart's desire that my response will lovingly bless Him. I discover that when my heart is abiding in His heart, I want only to give Him what he has shown me brings Him joy.