Committed

What does it look like to be committed to the Christian life? I remember a mentor once saying that she thought all Christian women had to wear denim jumpers and big bows in their hair. There is nothing wrong with a tasteful denim jumper - but if you met this friend of mine you would know that it would be a painful death to her sensitivities. . . Maybe you have had similar thoughts - not specifically about jumpers - but about the conformity of the Christian life.

And this is where the Christian church has done an incredible disservice to the world around us. We have encouraged this conformity complex in our communities. First of all, we do conform to each other, and then, we actually make rules over and above what the bible asks of us that force us to conform even more. I don't think this is a good idea. When we get specific in areas that God was not specific, we risk missing the point and making Christianity something it is not.

Jesus addresses a similar issue with the Pharisees. They had placed a huge emphasis on hand-washing rituals (among other things) and were confronting Jesus as to why His disciples were not following their rules. His response to their rule-making ways is this:

You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men. Mark 7:8

We must be very careful not to turn the Christian life into a list of rules and traditions that God Himself never asked of us. The truth is that the expectations for the Christian life are very high, and the cost for truly following Jesus is great. But it isn't as black and white as some believers want to make it with their legalistic rule-making.

Yes, as we seek to be like Jesus we will start to look a bit the same. For one, we will all start displaying the fruits of the Spirit. We will be loving, forgiving, patient, kind, generous, and on and on. We will also all live for the same purpose - to draw the world around us into a love relationship with Jesus Himself. We will be on a mission that could cost us our life - or at least our reputation and popularity.

So in some senses, we will conform. But in other ways we will be beautifully, marvelously different! When we follow Jesus we don't lose the personality traits that God gave us from birth. I long to be a part of a Christian community that is diverse, creative, and sometimes even slightly offensive. That might sound weird to you - but if we were a group of believers who were reaching our communities for Jesus then we would continually have nonbelievers and new believers in our midst. . . and though our hearts are forever changed the very moment we come to accept Christ as our Savior, the life transformation is a process that usually takes time. So in my mind, a truly living, powerful group of Christians will always include people who don't really look or act like "proper" Christians.

So can we please let go of the rules that bind us together on false terms? Can we stop obsessing about superficial things and get to the heart of the matter? The heart, after all, is what Jesus cares most about. If we are going to be a group of people who bring healing, love, and hope to a desperate world around us we need to be sure that we're getting the message right - and not weighing it down with unnecessary obligations.

I don't have to wear denim jumpers or bows in order to be a fully committed Christian. I just have to surrender the whole of my life to Jesus.

Simple, or not.

One of the teachers of religious law was standing there listening to the debate. He realized that Jesus had answered well, so he asked, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”

Jesus replied, “The most important commandment is this: ‘Listen, O Israel! The Lord our God is the one and only Lord. And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’ The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.”
Mark 12:28-31