My friend Rick Barnes and I recently held a discussion MySpace...a site that I really am not too fond of...anyway. If you are interested in seeing what we had to say, here ya go.
Rick's MySpace Blog
Wednesday, November 30, 2005
Behavior Modified or Grace Satisfied?
This is a post written a few weeks back. I just thought I'd add it on here.
I was talking with a friend tonight and she told me a story of the time when she was driving a group of students to a Christian retreat and was forced to slam on her brakes to avoid adding to a pile up on the road. To this she openly exclaimed, "Oh Shit!" Of course, realizing who she had in the van and where they were going, she sheepishly turned to everyone, smiled and said "Oh...Hi." This moment showed, that while she may be held in a relm of spiritual prestige as a Christian leader, she is in fact human.
This led to the swapping of other stories of times when either she or I were in situations that are "unChristian" to today's Christians. It is as if you are Christian-socially frowned upon if you cuss, smoke, have an occasional beer, etc. But is that any different from telling a lie, investing too much time in self-absorbtion or indulging in mindless time wasting. Before I go any furthur...yes, I am human, and yes, I tell lies, am often self-absorbed and probably more than often indulge in mindless time wasting.
This gathered me to recall the term "Behavior Modification" which I probably learned from Derek Webb in one of his House Sessions of Living Room Sessions two years ago. DW was making the point that we are all dispicable. We are all sinners, falling short of God's glory, yet we too often don't look to change our hearts, just our behavior. We as Christians today are living in a behavior modifying society. Don't do this. Don't do that.
But where is Christ?
Where is Grace?
I recently read Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller, to which I found the realization that you must first learn to love yourself, understanding your need for grace as much as the next person, to fully be able to accept it. Until we can understand that there needs to be a change...and accept the grace that God has given us and be satisfied to accept that grace, then we will continue to live by a list of do's and dont's. Will we slip up? Yes. Should we not pay attention to the Do's and dont's? I'm not saying that. My point is this...if we are to fully understand what it means to be a follower of Christ...it's not just modifying our behavior, while our heart remains the same...it is modifying our hearts through the acceptance of His love, being satisfied with our selves and His grace, accepting His grace and knowing that we are in fact human. That we will give in to certain temptations. That we will fall short of the glory of God no mater how hard and how deeply we may try to modify.
It makes sense if you really stop and think about it...we can strive to modify our behavior, yet always feel guilty for falling short. We must accept the grace that is given with the understanding that we will ALWAYS fall short. We will never achieve the goal of being free of sin on this Earth.
While we should still live to improve our life as in the list of do's and don'ts, we must be grace satisfied, not behavior modified to be soul gratified.
I was talking with a friend tonight and she told me a story of the time when she was driving a group of students to a Christian retreat and was forced to slam on her brakes to avoid adding to a pile up on the road. To this she openly exclaimed, "Oh Shit!" Of course, realizing who she had in the van and where they were going, she sheepishly turned to everyone, smiled and said "Oh...Hi." This moment showed, that while she may be held in a relm of spiritual prestige as a Christian leader, she is in fact human.
This led to the swapping of other stories of times when either she or I were in situations that are "unChristian" to today's Christians. It is as if you are Christian-socially frowned upon if you cuss, smoke, have an occasional beer, etc. But is that any different from telling a lie, investing too much time in self-absorbtion or indulging in mindless time wasting. Before I go any furthur...yes, I am human, and yes, I tell lies, am often self-absorbed and probably more than often indulge in mindless time wasting.
This gathered me to recall the term "Behavior Modification" which I probably learned from Derek Webb in one of his House Sessions of Living Room Sessions two years ago. DW was making the point that we are all dispicable. We are all sinners, falling short of God's glory, yet we too often don't look to change our hearts, just our behavior. We as Christians today are living in a behavior modifying society. Don't do this. Don't do that.
But where is Christ?
Where is Grace?
I recently read Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller, to which I found the realization that you must first learn to love yourself, understanding your need for grace as much as the next person, to fully be able to accept it. Until we can understand that there needs to be a change...and accept the grace that God has given us and be satisfied to accept that grace, then we will continue to live by a list of do's and dont's. Will we slip up? Yes. Should we not pay attention to the Do's and dont's? I'm not saying that. My point is this...if we are to fully understand what it means to be a follower of Christ...it's not just modifying our behavior, while our heart remains the same...it is modifying our hearts through the acceptance of His love, being satisfied with our selves and His grace, accepting His grace and knowing that we are in fact human. That we will give in to certain temptations. That we will fall short of the glory of God no mater how hard and how deeply we may try to modify.
It makes sense if you really stop and think about it...we can strive to modify our behavior, yet always feel guilty for falling short. We must accept the grace that is given with the understanding that we will ALWAYS fall short. We will never achieve the goal of being free of sin on this Earth.
While we should still live to improve our life as in the list of do's and don'ts, we must be grace satisfied, not behavior modified to be soul gratified.
Setup
This is a setup Blog to get this site started. I am not much of a blogger, but figured I'd create some form of venue for when I have a rant in my mind to get out or random thoughts on a subject. My blogs will generally not relate to my job, but maybe more to encounters with random people that I may find interesting or thoughts on an issue.
Enjoy if you wish.
Enjoy if you wish.
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