A favorite verse for many Christians to quote to other Christians is Romans 12:2.  It is a beautiful hammer to swing down on the heads of those not conforming with a lifestyle choice mandated by the swinger.  Isn’t it great, who can fight back.  Noone wants to (at least outwardly) go against scriptures with their lifestyle.  1 Point awarded to the Pious Christian, and the peasants rejoice.

But WAIT! (oh no, Kurt is about to stir the pot)  The crux of the matter is who is defining what.  For complete clarity, here is the actual text of the verse: “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is–his good, pleasing and perfect will.”(NIV)  Seems pretty straight forward.  Don’t live like the world, be changed by renewing your mind, that way you can figure out what Gods’ will is.  (KSV- Kurt’s Summary Version)

The problem that arises is, who gets to determine what living like the world means?  I know some of you say, “Well that is just common sense, it means x, y, and z.”  At the risk of sounding judgemental, doesn’t relying on common sense to determine our morality seem… well…  a bit worldly?  For you, common sense might mean wearing a bikini is wrong, but for the Amish man, common sense says that wearing zippers is wrong. (for the record, dudes wearing bikinies, thongs, or speedos is wrong on a level that transcends the spiritual.)  So whose common sense is correct?  Whose common sense spiritual living do we follow?

WHOA!!! I shout through a megaphone.  Hopefully for those of you riding on your high horse of judgment, your horse has now halted.  The reality is, most that are riding their high horses would never read this, and those that did certainly stopped by the second paragragh.  But if there are a few still with us, and for those of us who are more likely to be trampled by the horse than ride it (though I have on occassion been known to jump in the saddle), why don’t we see what scripture has to say.  I know, it is a novel idea to define spirituality and morality by scripture, but why don’t we take a poke at it.  Just for kicks, or maybe just so we can correct our theology a bit.

In Matthew 22 :36-40 we see- 36. “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37. And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38. This is the great and first commandment. 39. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”

Most of us are familiar with verses 36 and 39, but the crux of our topic today lies in verse “40.  On these to commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”  In other words, all God’s moral yardsticks and code can be summarized back to love God and love others.  So if someone wants to judge the action of another, they also need to judge their heart.  Probably a good question to ask from atop the high horse of judgement is, “Is it possible to love God or others by doing what that person is doing?”  Or better yet, instead of riding your high horse, why not climb down and look at your own life.  Because I think we can all agree that riding a high horse of judgement is typically done out of love for self.  Plus only God knows a man’s/woman’s heart/motives.

Please don’t get me wrong, I am not saying live and let live.  I completely affirm the need for brothers and sisters in Christ to come along side one another and at times smack each other upside the head and tell us to straighten out.  However, from my experience the Dark Riders (please don’t read anything into the fact that this term is the representative of the essence of evil in the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, somewhat completely unrelated/hyperrelated to my opinion of the Dark Riders) will not come along side you, but come at you if you are lucky.  I say lucky, because then you can at least try to educate them out of their ignorance. 

More than like though, the Dark Riders will challenge you because you believe x, y, and z is ok, and not whether you do it.  The very fact that you believe it will shake them to the core and cause them to saddle up.  Or even more likely, they will just ride down to the stable and talk about you to the other Dark Riders.  But it is ok for them to gossip about you because after all they are the Dark Riders, they determine morality, they are the judge of the spirit, heart, and motives.  Only they are pure enough to ride and ride high.  To help throw a cloak of spirituality over it, they may say a prayer for you to come out of your depths of worldliness. (I hope the intended sarcasm came through the written word, if not reread it in a sarcastic tone)

After rereading what I have written, I seem to have quite a negative tone to my writing which I don’t like.  Also, I find my self being a Dark Rider against the Dark Riders which I don’t like either.  I guess I am fed up with people trying to determine morality by what people do instead of who people are.  Only God can determine what is moral and what is not.  The rest of us should probably just try to what He says  instead of creating extra rules for people to follow.

Technorati Tags: christ, dark, faith, judgement, law, love, matthew, riders, world

A coworker recently approached me expressing grave concern with regards to the upcoming presidential election.  He was quite concerned about the direction this country is going.  This is quite understandable, but I believe this for different reasons than he does.  I want to take a look at this today from both my personal thoughts and then a Biblical perspective.

Personally-

I think their is a vast void of true leadership and integrity in Washington.  Both presidential candidates are poor choices for America.  I read a joke today which goes, “If both parties presidential and vice-presidential candidates we in a boat that capsized, who would be saved?”  Answer: “America.”

These two candidates are the symptom of the two party system sickness which plagues America.  Do your really want change in America?  Do you really want to make a difference?  Do you really want your vote to count?  If the answer is yes, then vote Third Party! I do not care which one, just pick one.  Whatever you do, do not vote for one of the major parties, and you will change America.

Biblically-

Biblically we need to remember three things:

We are not to worry- Do not worry about tomorrow- does that sound familiar.  The old slogan, “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” is halfway Biblical.  Worrying is a sin, it is unhealthy, and it produces nothing, so knock it off.

God Sets Up Rulers- Yes we vote, but God is very clear that he puts the rulers on the thrones.  So knowing that whoever we get is God appointed for one reason or another should give us peace.  God has a plan far greater and deeper than we can ever comprehend.  So on election night, don’t stay up and wait for the results.  Just go to bed and rest assured that whoever God wants in office, he will be in office.

God Is In Control- Do you remember the Twila Paris song?  God Is In Control.  Listen to it a few times.  God is in control of everything, and God works out everything for good for those who love him.  Do you believe it?  Maybe it is time for some increasing faith.  God has your best interest at heart.  The trick is trusting him through the times when it appears that your are the bottom turtle under Yurtle the Turtle’s stack of turtles.

Trust God, have faith, don’t worry, and vote third party.

Technorati Tags: faith, increasing faith, politics, president

Tonight, I want you to take a moment to take on the mind of God.  Imagine sending your child to die for someone who hated you.  If I stretch my mind, I can almost imagine this.  I can almost imagine sending my son to die for those that hated me, if I knew he was going to be resurrected again, but then it hits me.  Could I ever concieve sending my son to suffer to the degree Christ did?  Could I allow my son to go through what Christ went through for people who hated me?  Heck, I couldn’t even do this for people who love me.  This is what God did for us.

He sent His Son to be beaten, to be whipped, to have his skin ripped right off his back.  He sent His Son to have huge thorns pressed through his scalp.  He sent His Son to have nails hammered through His hands and feet.  He sent His Son to be rejected.

He loves us that much.  Thank you Father.

Technorati Tags: christ, Easter, Father