Major on the majors and minor on the minors

2 October 2011

If only life is as simple as ABC but it is not.

Life is complex and our world is far from being simplistic.

For the disciple of Christ, life gets real frustrating when we try to live biblically. The Bible teaches absolutes, the clear line between right and wrong, but life issues are often blurred in a hue of grey.

The Bible is indeed full of absolutes – about God, sin, salvation and holiness, etc.
However, within the perimeter of absolutes, there is great freedom. The Bible contains many leeway and freedom of choice regarding many things considered non-essentials of faith. For matters such as these, we are free to choose according to our conscience.

Life gets frustrating when we fail to discern the non-essentials from the essentials of our faith. God’s church is often of not much help because she tends to bicker over trivial matters of conscience instead of building God’s people in the fundamental teachings of Christ. It is like nitpicking and overly focused on the deco of the house while oblivious to the shaky foundation of the house.

How do we major on the majors and minor on the minors?

It can be as easy as ABC but it is not. It is easy because the Word of God is all sufficient to provide us with God’s blueprint for our living. It is not because it requires discipline, commitment and hard work.

All of us desire to know God’s truth – it is getting there that poses a great challenge.

Did I say that that life is complex and far from being simplistic? I rest my case.

Cry Freedom!

John 8:36
So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed!

Freedom is a peculiar word – it means different things to different people.

To the people in Libya and many Middle-Eastern countries, it spells the overthrowing of a dictator and oppressive regimes. To the suffering populace in the horn of Africa, freedom means no more drought and famine. Yet to the oppressed Dalits in India or the many minority groups in Pakistan, it means the basic human right to make choices of their own.

What does Jesus means when he said we are set free? Free from what?

The answer is free from myself. Jesus came to set me free from my own sin, my self-centredness. The greatest enemy of ours is not from without but from within.

Some religious group wrap up their women from top to bottom thinking that the problem of lust is the women. But lust comes from the heart – something internal. Some people justify their lukewarmness toward God because the ‘Christians’ disappoint us. But our lack of faith in God is due to our obsession that God must act a certain way through a certain people. We still call the shots.

The freedom Jesus promises is the ability to ‘de-centralise’ ourselves so that we can love God and love others. This freedom is liberty from my dark malicious ego and it takes the selfless death of Christ to make this transaction possible. Galatians 2:20 must then be my conscious prayer everyday,

“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”