Preface: If you're a new believer, this post won't make as much sense to you because you practice what I am talking about more naturally than those of us who have allowed our relationship with God to be tamed by religiosity. Just keep preaching the gospel to yourself... and hopefully you won't ever need this post. :-)
So... you know how sometimes you know something... and then... you KNOW it? Like, you really, truly understand. Those are great moments.
I feel as if I'm really coming into one of those moments lately (though I'm certainly not there yet). I guess it would even be a contradiction to say that I'm coming into it, because the truth is that it (or He) has really come to me. It's hard to write about because I realize that for the million-plus times that I've heard it before, I didn't really hear it... but it's also something that I can't keep inside... it's just so great! ... and... well... that's the point.
Enough rambling.
The reality is that Jesus has set us free. Not somewhat free or mostly free, but completely free.
How free? So free that I'd audaciously claim His freedom is from every single weight that binds us.
Some of us have been chained to obvious sin. We're addicted to food or stuff or sex.
Some of us have been chained to less outwardly noticeable (but inwardly apparent) sin. We're ridiculously prideful and always seeking the approval of others. We're addicted to glory and pleasure.
But some of us have been chained by one of the most deceptively sly sins in existence. It is freedom from these chains which I am beginning to revel in tonight even as I write this.
This is freedom from one kind of piety (devotion)... that leads to true piety.
We see it all around us, and we believers experience it every day: Guilt because I didn't spend enough time in devotions (or do my devotions at all). I prayed without getting on my knees, or I listened to too much secular music. I didn't witness to enough people this week or go on a mission trip this year... and I certainly didn't make enough disciples... oh what will God think of me?
All the while... without even realizing it... we have created a righteousness for ourselves... a new standard of right-standing before God... a righteousness that has no need for real grace, a righteousness that only needs a few obvious, ugly, embarrassing, former things to be nailed to the cross... and a righteousness that only needs a future resurrection from the dead. It has no need for rebirth, new creation or the indwelling of the Spirit because it is self-sustaining.
Being in youth ministry gives me a particularly potent perspective on this type of piety. It is the yearly cycle of Summer Camp high, Fall kick-off with a vengeance, the mid-semester slump, somber Christmas reflection, first of the year "where'd everyone go?", Spring retreat reboost, graduation shuffle and start it all over again. Some have compared the spiritual life of a teenager in youth ministry to a roller coaster. I'd rather compare it to doing drugs. Those who stick around long enough to see graduation are getting a hit just often enough to make it to the next one. By the time we get to this next spiritual high, we feel near spiritual death. (please note the pejorative nature of this description... anyone who knows me knows that I wouldn't spend my life doing anything else besides navigating these timulutuous and wonderful, beautiful times with youth)
So, the answer I've always given students to break free of this madness is to develop their personal disciplines and become active in the church. This is SO RIGHT! ... but what I never truly understood was that those things are the result of something else... they are not the main thing.
Jesus says, "If you love me, you'll obey me." (John 14:15).
And so, love and obedience are inextricably related. If you love... you'll obey, and you can't obey if you don't love. Yeahp... you can get up at 4 AM and read the Bible and pray until you're blue in the face, but if you don't love the God You're seeking, you should've slept in.
But how? How do I conjure up this love?
I guess I can't absolutely tell you how to grow in your affections for Christ... there are many facets to this subject (like daily rehearsing the gospel and developing dependent humility)... but I can share with you something that has helped me.
Realizing that I'm free.
When I realized that I didn't have to read my Bible one more time for God not just to love me but to LIKE me, I started wanting to read my Bible more.
When I realized that I didn't have to pray like all of my heroes of the faith in order for God to be truly and utterly pleased with me... yes, to delight in me... I wanted to talk to Him and hear from Him more.
When I completely let go of my personal piety as a means to get any sort of approval from God... which actually lead me through a time when I intentionally neglected these disciplines for the sake of having my motivations reoriented... I think I found true devotion in freedom.
So... when I get up in the morning and my initial thought is, "I have to do my devotions this morning or God's gonna be mad at me or He's not gonna bless my day," I remind myself that I've, in some way, denied the very essense of grace. Then I say to myself, "I don't have to do anything because Jesus already did everything for me." And the cool thing is... many times it is at this point that you'd have to fight me to keep me away from the light and the life that is found in His Word and in communion with Him through prayer.
Yes, I'm convinced... this freedom from one kind of piety leads to true piety because true piety is always found in a true love for God.
I hope with all my heart that these thoughts are helpful to you.
I truly do believe that the gospel is the power of God unto salvation (Rom. 1:16)... and the gospel is the reality that God the Son laid aside His privileges to become a man, live a sinless life, die a sacrificial death on our behalf, and rise from the dead to bring us live here and now and for eternity.
In Christ,
Andy
