Rethink This

I believe one of the areas we most need to 'rethink' in order to live in the benefits and blessings of the kingdom of God is our perspective on his 'commands' and 'laws.' Most of us tend to think of them as 'Buckley's cough syrup' - tastes awful but is good for you.

When we think this way, we tend to want to avoid his 'commandments and ways' as much as possible. Or we grudgingly and 'calculatedly' obey them just enough to make it to heaven. We also believe that no one else would really want them either, and so we think we have to coerce, scare, manipulate, bribe, or trick them to accept them and live by them.

However if we make a 180 degree mind shift on this - choosing to believe what God says about his 'instructions' - that they are good, light, easy, and good for us - it will change everything. He says 'I have set out the instructions so you can live life to the full.' If we see it from this perspective, we choose to obey because we want to! Because we believe it is for our benefit. Because we are sure our lives will be richer, more dynamic, more exciting, more full of joy and life if we follow his 'paths' than if we don't.

The flip side of this is that we will come to beleive that others will want to know how to live like this too. It is not a matter of 'selling' or 'convincing' them but simply sharing the good news with them and letting them choose.

Don't fool yourself. This is not an easy 'rethink.' It takes perseverance and mind renewal. It requires revelation and the tearing down of 'stonghold's' of concepts almost everyone has built up over the years. But the good news is - all things are possible!

Deut 5.33 6.24, 8.16, Jer 29:11, Ezek 20:11, Luke 11.28, John 10:10

Our 'Prime Directive'

I love the Star Trek concept of the 'prime directive' - a commitment to a principle that takes precedence over all other considerations. A bottom line value that supercedes all others, and clearly determines choices and behaviors.

I believe that Jesus has given his followers a 'prime directive' as well. It's found in John 13:34 - "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another," It's echoed over and over through the NT - Matt 22:36-39, Rom 13:8-10, 1 Cor 13, Gal 5:6, Jas 2:8 (and others).

Love (agape - acting in the other person's best interest, no matter what) is to be the most basic 'rule' for followers of Jesus. It is the question we ask first and last when we are making choices. It determines our behavior, our choices, our values, etc. It simplifies things. There are so many times we are faced with a chioce - when this 'prime directive' would clearly guide us.

The most important things are not 'doctrine' or 'tradition' or 'denominational distinctives' or personal comfort, or personal preferences, and not even 'morality' - but love. Love must win out over any of these things. All of these things must be formulated, and administered in love - or they violate Jesus 'prime directive.'

So - how are we doing? Are we living by the prime directive in our personal lives? In our church life?