Freedom Is Dangerous

Blog from Tony:

When I taught high school science I was continually trying to get my students to understand concepts and principles that, when mastered, could be applied to all sorts of problems. Most were surprisingly resistant. Their preferred method was to learn the "steps" for each type of problem.

They wanted to get the right answer because they were concerned about their grade, but they weren't really interested in truly understanding the concepts.

I guess this is human nature. I saw the same type of thinking this last Halloween at our mall outreach. I won't go into detail, but let's just say the event was a magnet for religiousness. Good people, with good hearts, who want to do it right can end up being religious because its easier.

We just want to get the right answer, learn the steps, and we end up solving problems with rules instead of through relationship.

It's a lot more work to stay tuned to His Spirit and adapt to each situation by His leading.

I've noticed that church leaders can also fall into this trap. There are always problems to confront, and its much easier to make blanket rules than to wade in and pastor the individuals. But every time we do this we are limiting freedom for everyone because a few abused their liberty.

What an incredible risk Jesus is taking by setting us free so completely, and then empowering us on top of that. That leaves us with tremendous potential to accomplish great things, but also (and these cannot be divorced from each other) similarly great potential to mess things up. But if Jesus isn't nervous about this, maybe we should lighten up and give each other grace.

Bottom line; we will mess it up unless we stay close to the heart of Jesus. There is really only one step, one rule. You can look it up in John 15:4-5.