GRACE BLOGS COLLECTION
From Adam to Christ
From death to life
From old to new
From darkness to light
From works to rest
From law to grace
From judgment to righteousness
From exhausted to seated
From me to Him
From busy to content
From do to done
From anxiety to peace
From religion to relationship
From “what’s next” to “what’s finished”
From “have to” to “want to”
From temporal to eternal
From glory to glory to glory
Wynema Clark 5/26/15
The reason the world is turned off by Christianity isn’t because we, as Christians, aren’t good enough. It’s because we are very flawed but we present ourselves as if we are perfect, so we are fake. Glorified actors, who really have no idea who they are or what they really have to offer. Going through the motions. Doing what we believe looks like what a good Christian should be doing, what is acceptable in the religious community but to the world looks like fakery. Religion has essentially bound us to expectations and perfectionism. In some cases since early childhood. So much so, that our creativity and individual expression havent been allowed to blossom. The problem is that the world sees through it, teenagers see through it and anyone who thinks sees straight through this act. How are we as believers freed from expectations, preconceived ideas, perfectionism and being fake? Actually the message of the New Covenant authenticates the reality of our Christian walk. Grace frees you to be very real, because you see that it’s all about Jesus anyway, and now you can relax. Then you are faced with “now what” because for so long your actions have been determined by religion and now you are free to be you. All that you are left with is the expression of life that Christ can live through you and only you. Are you good with that if it looks different or if it sounds foreign to the religious ear? You are His workmanship, not the the religious establishment. What would that even look like? It’s a great big surprise but I can promise you that He will be seen. This is what the world groans for, not our fake smiles and politics. The world craves Jesus.
As a little girl I remember so well the desire to please my dad. I did everything I could to gain his attention and his trust. I craved that validation. Then in high school I did something I wasn’t supposed to do. He was so angry that he looked me in the eyes and told me that he was disappointed in me and could not trust me. It was a crushing blow. To lose something that I had worked so hard for and craved so much was devastating.
As a believers we sometimes view our relationship with our heavenly Father with this same kind of delicate frailty. We believe that those who pray the most and who stay the busiest “working” for the Lord have a better relationship with Him. He has to love them more. So we strive and we press in and we strive some more and we press in some more until we are burned out, spent, and anxious because enough is never really enough.
Then when you come to the end of the striving and you stop trying to be so perfect and work so hard you are finally introduced to your real Dad. Not the father of your particular religion, not the father of your interpretation of the scripture, but the God who is Love, that is your real Father. It is then, and only then, that you are able to relax because you realize that He isn’t waiting on you to get your work done. He has been waiting on you to realize that He already did all the work so He could spend His time with you. You see, it’s not about getting Him to love you. He IS love. Its really about you accepting that you are lovable because of Him. And in knowing that love, you are fulfilled in life instead of anxious. Enjoying Him and He you. That is relationship. That is love.
Ephesians 3:14-21; I John 4:9-10, 19; Romans 8:38-39; John 15:13; Romans 5:8
