Don't Mess This Up!

Our church has a free breakfast every Sunday morning. Not just for those who attend service, not just coffeecake and doughnuts; I'm talking pancakes, sausage, bacon, cereal, and coffee. Breakfast. I usually don't go. In fact, I haven't been to Sunday morning breakfast for over three years. So, when I signed up to cook, I told myself I'd go the week before I was scheduled just to get the lay of the land and, maybe, to have one of the "regulars" walk me through the process. The problem is, I forgot. I never put it on my calendar. I'd made cooking a priority --that was there in the little grey box, but I'd never prioritized the training I thought I needed. That's a whole 'nother blog article in itself! So, a few days before I was supposed to cook, I asked the pastor's wife to run me through the basics. It's simple, and I'm not completely clueless in the kitchen, but I think I sort of winced when she quipped, You can't mess this up. Never underestimate the human capacity for making the simple complicated.

That's what we tend to do with our spiritual lives sometimes. I mean, we have an entire Book full of historical accounts: how God forgave His people, led His people, made a way for His people, disciplined His people, blessed His people. And we have the New Testament filled with the letters of common men who were on fire(!) for the gospel, who were willing to go wherever they were told to go and endure whatever they had to endure, who saw crowds of people turn their lives over to Jesus, who saw the lame walk and the blind see --who were the vessels of those healings, and who themselves wanted nothing more than to walk in the footsteps of Jesus here on earth. And even though we have all of this at our fingertips, we look for more. We want to wonder if God loves us. We want to feel as though we're not good enough. We want to load ourselves up with expectations and others up with burdens so that we --and they --look like real Christians. We want to twist and suggest and imply until the truth of God's Word looks more like our lives rather than persist until our lives look more like the truth of God's Word. 

Our ladies' Bible study recently spent a couple of weeks talking about the Mosaic Covenant and where it does or doesn't fit into the life of a Jesus follower. Without belaboring my point, Jesus was born into the tribe of Judah, into a Jewish family, under the Mosaic Covenant. He observed Torah. He loved God's Law. He was the Fulfillment of God's Law. In other words, He didn't abolish the Mosaic Covenant, He blew the doors off of it. He opened up the covenant to a more rigorous but less specific way of loving the Lord our God and loving others. Murder was no longer extinguishing the breath of a living being but was having hateful thoughts toward someone; and adultery was not exclusive to sexual contact with someone outside of marriage, but it was lustful thoughts (Mt. 5:21-28). More rigorous for sure! But it was also less specific in the sense that following ten commandments or six hundred thirteen laws was not the endgame; loving the Lord God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and loving our neighbor is our truest pursuit. Obedience? Yes, we can't love God and disobey Him constantly, but following instructions, moral methodology, behavior modification --these are not the purpose of our relationship with Jesus. Would we choose children who obey us over children who love us? or do we want children who love us, want to obey us, but mess up sometimes?

What makes us think we are any better at relationships than God is? Why do we love our families with abandon and grace, but second guess what God says about His mercy for His people? Why do we make living the Christian life so complicated? Why do we deny the grace of God in the plan of God? We have an instruction manual, the Word of God. All we have to do is obey. It's just that simple. I mean, really, you can't mess this up!