I've been hearing/reading interesting ideas lately, by professing Christian people. Ideas like,
- Christians can swear, drink as much as and whatever they want, and keep whatever company they want,
- Listen to whatever music they want, watch whatever movies they want, read whatever magazines they want, go wherever they want, you name it....
AS LONG AS THEIR "HEART IS RIGHT" with God.
People, what on earth?
Earlier today I spent a little time cleaning out my iTunes library and my iPod...again. Last time was not quite thoroughly enough.
"Wait!" you say. "What about the beginning of this post?"
What about it? I was thrown into a whirlwind of thought by those ideas. Not at all new ones to me, but I really thought through them this time, I want to know how this sneaks into my life. When I took inventory I realized that I still have music that needs to go. I have movies that will go too. A close friend helped me realize that if you have to sit and think about what's wrong with something...then it needs to go. If it requires that much thought, then 9 times out of 10 you are just trying to rationalize. Or try this one, if you had the mindset I mentioned, that it's ok to do any of those things, then ask yourself this:
If God were to ask you why you did it, what would you say?
That ought to wipe out pretty much every stupid, time-wasting habit we have. People pride themselves on the "ability to think" for themselves. A lot of students exit Master's College in particular, feeling as if they have been brainwashed, feeling as if they have been forced to think "biblically" one way or another, and all of a sudden, now they are free to be themselves. If that is true, that is so sad. For an environment that encourages godly behavior, to say it is like jail, well, that pretty much tells us how much you care about God. What a shame.
As a Christian I don't find that I am at all at liberty to "think for myself", I am a slave for God and am to do what He requires of me. Did any of those ideas at the beginning of the post mention holiness? No. Holiness will never be found in a "thinking for myself" attitude because holiness requires thinking in a way that would please God, thinking how He wants us to about these issues in life. It requires living my life in such a way that there should be no question as to who I belong to. And yeah this can be difficult, especially if everyone around you is doing something different. Maybe we are called to be strangers and aliens here. What a thought. If you belong to Christ, I pray this post prods you to check for weeds and get some Round-Up and/or pull them out. If you don't want to, if you like those weeds I mentioned, and don't want to get rid of them, maybe it's time to take inventory...and see if you are even a Christian. By what you do/don't weed out of your life you will show who you are, and who you belong to. If your heart is right with God, you won't be comfortable with weeds, you will pull them out, no matter what it costs you.
