Rules or relationship?

When asked if they will go to heaven when they die, most people say, “I’ve lived a good life” or a variation of that. This is the wisdom of the age.

It was the same wisdom of the age in the New Testament. The Hebrew nation existed in a covenant with God that asked them for obedience to His laws. However, their religion fell into empty religion, keeping the “rules” but falling into apathy and blind to their idolatry and lack of social justice. While most of that is sad reading, the prophets also spoke of a new covenant to come, one of relationship, not rules. God would change their hearts and as a result, their lives.

Paul called this a mystery. It was hinted at in the Old Testament and came to fruition when Jesus Christ was born, lived, died and was raised to life. He invited people into a faith relationship with Himself, for He was their God, come in human flesh and ready to forgive their sin and give them new life. Sadly, they didn’t understand.

Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away. But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. (1 Corinthians 2:6–8)

One of their problems was that they kept their lives and their religion in separate compartments. They went to the temple to pray. They fasted. They kept multitudinous rules. This was challenging, but it was easier than being kind and unselfish — if that happened to clash with their desires and plans. This is why they became so angry at Jesus’ story of the Good Samaritan. Their religious leaders (their icons) passed by when they saw a needy man wounded and bleeding in the ditch. They represented the emptiness that characterized their religion, all show and no compassion. It was not supposed to be like that.

Jesus showed them what a relationship with God should look like and told them that religion and ritual without heart was meaningless. A few understood, at least in part, but even the disciples scattered when Jesus was arrested. He asked for more than they could deliver. They didn’t realize that this is why He came to die. We cannot do the will of God. In ourselves, we are helpless and sinful to the core.

Because this is true, those religious people who prayed and kept the rules and went to the temple every day also planned Calvary and eventually worked it into a fact of history.

I cannot look down my nose at them. I’ve idolized people and things above God. I have neglected or ignored the poor and downtrodden. I’ve sang in church when my heart was elsewhere, going through the motions without being present or in harmony with God. My heart, apart from Christ, is also sinful to the core.

Today’s devotional asks blunt questions. For instance, what are my prayers doing in me? Are they drawing me closer to God? Or are they cheap substitute for godly living? Does my knowledge of my heavenly Father and my awareness of the human community move me to live God’s way? Is my conscience more acute to things around me so I cannot simply pass by on the other side, happy in my own comforts? Am I too much like those who didn’t understand and who crucified Christ?

The failure of mankind shows itself in every arena of life. Without the relationship, I have nothing to draw on, only my pitiful and sinful self.

To Live is Christ — not checking off a list

Busy people need to keep track of their responsibilities. I’m a busy person with a to-do list that helps me remember everything from watering the plants to sending a card to a cousin in Oregon. Without my reminders, I would forget to wash windows until I couldn’t see out of them, or neglect dusting until I could write my name on the furniture. I’m not sure how other people keep track of what needs to be done, but I know that I cannot rely on taking notice of things because I can focus on one thing and be oblivious to everything else. I also cannot rely on my memory. Besides, some of these chores are just chores that never will hit the top of my “favorite occupation” lists.

However, Christianity is not a “check-list” religion. Pleasing God goes deeper than writing down a to-do list and marking things when completed. Today’s devotional reading included the following thoughts:

Lord, life would be easy if all I had to do to please You was to go through the motions. But action without conviction is like a black hole that robs us of Your pleasure. Instead, shattered pride and a broken heart keeps our relationship with You honest and our acts of worship true.

After being a Christian for nearly forty years, going to church easily becomes a habit instead of a glorious opportunity to worship God with His people. Prayer can also deteriorate into rote phrases filled with “God bless so-and-so” without even thinking about what I am saying or asking. As the devotional reading says, my heart needs a whack now and then to keep me from empty ritual.

For You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it; You do not delight in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart — these, O God, You will not despise. (Psalm 51:16–17)

I took that list from yesterday’s post to God in prayer. Countless memories filled my mind as I prayed through it. They say confession is good for the soul. Whoever “they” are, they are right.

To live is Christ means never taking God or my relationship with Him for granted. He has saved me from the penalty of sin, but salvation does not stop there. Sin still needs to be routed out. I will always need Him to expose my deadness of heart and my pride. I need Him to challenge that smug sense of having my life in order. As long as I walk this earth, there will be things true of me that are not pleasing to God, things that do not look like Jesus.

To live is Christ also means being sculpted and whittled at until self is gone and He takes preeminence. I’ve a long way to go before that happens. Thankfully, He will never stop working at this business of saving me, not just from sin’s penalty, but also from it’s power and its very presence.

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