Because of His ever unfolding marvelous Grace, I am beginning to see there are many things that God really doesn’t care about; and tragically I have. There is hope though; … old dogs can learn new tricks. So I am going to give you some of the benefit of my very gray hair and over 40 years of trying to know and follow God. Take it or leave it. God doesn’t care.
First of all; here are some of the molehills that I now believe are much like “rearranging the deck chairs” on the Titanic.
At the top of the list is religion. Now I don’t mean the real thing….like taking care of people who need help or staying away from the defiling things of this present darkness.
“Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.” (Jas 1:27)
Nor do I mean there is any other way to the Father except through the Son. I do mean…things like… I believe this over you believe that.
If God truly looks on the heart and not the outside, then what we say about what we believe, has little to do with what we actually believe. What we do on the other hand is the only true indicator of what we actually believe.
Who cares if your beliefs are biblically correct yet you never walk them out. God doesn’t care.
"But what do you think? A man had two sons, and he came to the first and said, 'Son, go, work today in my vineyard.' He answered and said, 'I will not,' but afterward he regretted it and went. Then he came to the second and said likewise. And he answered and said, 'I go, sir,' but he did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father?" They said to Him, "The first." Jesus said to them, "Assuredly, I say to you that tax collectors and harlots enter the kingdom of God before you. (Mat 21:28-31)
Do you actually think He will be more merciful to you because you are a believer and yet have never obeyed Him than the pagan who never heard of Christ and did the best he could with what he intrinsically knew about God?
“…because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse,…” (Rom 1:19-20)
Christ came to bring a new Life not a new religion. Samaritan, Jew, Baptist, Catholic, or Home Churcher; if you ain’t doing it; it’s worthless.
How about holidays? …A Evil Halloween, A Merry Christmas, and A Happy (hiccup.) New Year. People pick on Halloween because of it’s association with their childhood fears and superstitions. I know …I wrote small booklets on the evils of every Holiday, especially Christmas. Bah Humbug!
Tell me …which greaves God’s heart more…Halloween with its scary black cats or what happens on New Year’s Eve? Are there more scriptural vendettas against greed, drunkenness or …ghosts?
Truth is that what Christians do on Christmas and New Years Eve grosses God out far more than all the black cats, ghost and devils with red tails combined. This is not a rant against Holidays. Let each man or woman be fully convinced in his or her mind what they should do with holidays… or anything else for that matter…it all belongs to us. God doesn’t care. It’s what we do with it that matters.
How about how you worship? I used to be so uncomfortable going to other churches because they don’t “worship” the way I do. I asked a good friend and pastor in India about the difference in the way he approached worship and the way we did. He was raised in a Charismatic church and that wasn’t my experience. He smiled and said… “I like my food spicy you don’t.”
Light begin to pour in as I contemplated the wisdom in His reply. My friend was an East Indian and liked his food so spicy if I ate it you would have to call the paramedics. I on the other hand liked mostly bland meat and potatoes. When he ate at my house we could never quite “spice it up” enough for him.
Since that conversation I have worked at not thinking that different isn’t necessarily wrong. I am actually coming to enjoy different modes of worship and praise. (I also like my food a lot more spicy). Truth is God doesn’t care. If the worship is coming from the heart and is backed up by a life that is no different on Sunday than it is on Monday… God enjoys it. Get over it …God doesn’t care.
These are just a few of the molehill opinions that I turned into mountain sized doctrines. It is so easy to become a “corrector of the foolish” while becoming an enlightened fool.
I heard a saying the other day I really liked. It went…
“As no roads are as rough as those that have just been patched, so no saints are so intolerant as those that have just been enlightened.”
It probably would be real good if we waited a few years to form those hard fast opinions about “what we think God likes and dislikes”. Time has a way of making you more tolerant.
Anyway I feel so much lighter having turned the burden of straightening out the world and His church back over to God.
Hope you have some wonderful Holidays and enjoy them …and at the very least;... don’t make them miserable for others.
David Noah
Thank you for pouring out your heart. It means a lot to me.
ReplyDeleteNoah,
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting this. Your points in molehill #1 are really hitting home in me.
Our group has been fairly separated from other churches in Atlanta in the last few years, but there's been some strong indications in the last several months that that will be/is changing. It's incredibly hard for me not to jump to comparisons of our group vs. theirs.
Heather, Thomas and I are planning on coming to the village for Christmas weekend. Hopefully see you then!
Eric
That helps me a lot too.We all have our molehills.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing.
Amen! I had a very similar conversation with the Presbyterian pastor yesterday. It was the one thing I've said that seemed new to him, and I could see him thinking "of course that's true."
ReplyDeleteThis was well said.