It's funny that this topic has been popping up in a lot of what I read lately, because it's one that I've been contemplating in my own life the last few months. Then again, maybe I'm just drawn to the idea itself.
Either way, some things that stick out to me:
"We [Christians] feel guilty if we stay out too late on Saturday and sleep through church on Sunday morning. We feel guilty if the physical components of our relationships with our girlfriends or boyfriends 'go too far.' We feel guilty if we don’t give money to the Church or spend the right amount of time in prayer. Unfortunately, many believers are driven to do these things—pray, tithe, attend church, remain sexually pure—by a rabid sense of duty."
I agree with this statement in the sense that many of us DO do these things out of a sense of guilt, but where I may want to stress understanding is that we can not let this thinking divert us from holy living as well.
There have been many times in my own life when knowledge, or what I perceive to be the truth, has afforded me the opportunity to exercise my sinful nature, just because I was telling myself I shouldn't do the opposite out of guilt. Sometimes guilt can be a good thing, at least in the sense that it motivates us to no longer continue in what is making us guilt ridden.
Too often though, we can allow our guilt to stiffen our actions; whereupon it becomes this apathetic, dry religion that we claim, instead of the passion filled, adventurous faith we can live.
To sum this post up, I can think of no better way than to leave you with the author's final paragraph:
"It seems a passionless faith may be one reason so many find our faith unattractive and disingenuous. We must revive the great idea of our great God. We must rediscover the great commission and great commandment. We must pursue a passion-driven Christianity. If our faith is to become a transformative, redemptive power within the culture, we need to flee guilt-driven, duty-centered puppetry and call down a passion for the great idea of the Gospel."
Jar
1 comment:
I just want to say that this is VERY encouraging. There are two sides to this:
1-being the one with guilt
2-being the one that points the finger at the guilty one.
I struggle with both but more so, I point my finger a lot and it's so dirty and wrong of me. It's sad to think so many would rather discourage to feel better about themselves than to ENcourage and just rejoice that we have a God that wipes our slates clean! Trials is what makes us grow stronger. This reading really slapped me in the face.
-Sam Whittecar
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