Thursday, July 26, 2012

Not by Rules (a quip by an orthodox rebel)

"...ye are Christ's, and Christ is God's." I Cor. 3:23

"...I am in My Father, and ye in Me, and I in you." John 14:20b

People may ask us why we're not at "liberty" (so-called) to do as they do. They may wonder why we feel tied down to "rules," and perhaps they suspect that we are not strong enough to stand without them. "You're free in Christ, aren't you?" they say. "Why tie yourself down?" Against these charges, we cannot say a thing, not because our accusers are right but because they will never understand. They will never understand that it's not about us anymore. We've been bought with a price: our souls, our minds, our bodies, our lives---they don't belong to us anymore. They belong to God and Christ, so we ought to live like they belong to God and Christ. You see, it's not about what we do or don't do, but rather it's about what God has done in Christ. He has made us a new creation in every whit, a creature that belongs to God. It is that reality (and not rules) that influences what we do, for how can we be what we are not? And how can we help but be what we are?

-Jon Vowell (c) 2012