October 29, 2013

[you be you]

It's 9:30 A.M. on Saturday morning.. okay maybe 10:30 if you had a late night. Sadly, since technology has taken over the face of the earth, you immediately take your iPhone 5 off its charger to check your Instagram feed when suddenly up pops that Christian girl's picture of her Bible, coffee, and scrambled eggs strategically arranged on her kitchen table (oops.. sorry, this was me last Saturday).

Ever catch yourself wondering if you measure up as a Christian? Do you find yourself discouraged by that girl's Instagram of her morning spent praying and reading? Wondering if your 'efforts' at loving Jesus are as effective as the next person?

You're straight trippin.

..but don't worry. Myself, along with many others, are caught doing the same thing. So last Saturday.. you know, post uploading my Instagram pic of my Bible, eggs, and coffee, I was praying that the Lord would show me how to love Him more. I began searching through the Bible - surely there's something in there that can tell me how to follow the Lord more closely, right? Then I came upon this gem..

On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. "Teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?"

"What is written in the Law?" he replied. "How do you read it?"

He answered, " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind..' "

"You have answered correctly," Jesus replied. "Do this and you will live."

Luke 10:25-28
 
Wait.. so like.. that didn't really answer my question.
 
Exactly.
 
Love how Jesus doesn't lay down the Ten Commandments.
 
Love how this was not at all what the 'expert in the law' was expecting.
 
Love how love is the answer.
 
Time and time again we are caught up in assessing how we are to go about worshipping Jesus. Is Jesus most glorified when I am singing hymns? Does He like it when I write out my prayers in my journal? What if I prefer evening quiet times as opposed to morning quiet times? What if I can't get enough time in the day to read the Bible - is it okay if I just pray on my way to work?
 
And this is where Jesus says..
 
love me.
 
You be you.
 
If coffee makes you gag and mornings aren't quite your thing.. well then I certainly wouldn't recommend my Saturday morning routine.
 
If you feel the Lord's presence the most in worship, you go love the Lord through your car's speakers on the way to work! Why not go full out and roll your car windows down while the music is blaring? But then again, that's my preference.. you be you.
 
"I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full."
John 10:10
 
Jesus is working on your behalf. He doesn't want to give you a list of "dos and don'ts." God already proved that we suck at this (hint: Adam & Eve, 10 Commandments, etc.). All he asks is that you love him. And soon you will see..
 
Jesus will renew you. Slowly, all of those 'morally sound' things that Christians do (drink in moderation, refrain from gossip, love their neighbors as themselves.. you get the picture), you will suddenly find yourself doing. And not because you merely decide you want to follow the rules.. but because you are falling in love with the Creator of your soul.
 
Woah. Things just got real.
 
So whatever it is that you do to glorify the Lord - whether it be reading your Bible in the morning, praying while gardening, running down the road spurting out Bible verses (though I wouldn't quite recommend this last one) - do it with hopes of falling more in love with the Lord.