Any readers left?

It has been a while since I have come to the blog to write and have missed it in part but also have enjoyed taking a hiatus for a bit. I have really been focusing my time on what it is God is calling me to do as a leader in my church and what reforms must I take in my own life. Through this process it has brought me in understanding some of my weaknesses that need to work on but also has driven me, once again, back to the main thing: the Cross of our Christ.

I was reading a short biography on the biography of William Wilberforce the other night and Wilberforce said something that I have heard before but once again struck at the heart of understanding the gospel and our lives in Christ.

My grand objection to the religious system still held by many who declare
themselves orthodox Churchmen...is, that it tends to render Christianity so much
a system of prohibitions rather than of privilege and hopes, and thus the
injunction to rejoice, so strongly enforced in the New Testament, is practically
neglected, and Religion is made to wear a forbidding and gloomy air and not one
of peace and hope and joy.

Is this not an indictment to us today? Is this not an indictment to myself? Instead of focusing what God provides to us for our joy and peace we tend to bring gloom on those areas that we are convicted to be wrong and sin, when taking a closer look have more to do with our upbringing than the actual Scriptural mandate against such things.

One of the main things that bothers me within any church is the perception of how one dresses is a look into their holiness. How is this biblical? I believe it was Mark Driscoll who stated that the only time dress is mentioned in the New Testament is always speaking against dressing up in a formal manner and focuses it's time on merely dressing modestly. Yet, if some do not dress in a shirt and tie, some ask, "Why don't they love God more?" This is not the only instance but it is a root of many problems. Meaning, our convictions become from what we tend to like or dislike NOT what is biblically mandated.

I had the opportunity to participate in a mock interview for an aspiring pastor and one asked what his thought was of dancing in the aisles and other forms of worship. He responded by saying, "I don't agree with it, I don't know if I have a biblical reason for all things, but I am pretty sure that if I see something that I don't agree with I will just know it." Now my indictment is not on his thoughts on dancing in the aisles, but in the answer. I told him this and he agreed and this gentleman is a great man of God, but his answer was more wide spread than I think he knew.

This seems to be the answer by most in the Christian culture these days. "If I don't like it, it is wrong." Hmmm...seems Pharisaical to me.

Anyway...I don't want to rant all night on this subject, but this hiatus has been a good opportunity to root my answers to the only thing I need to defend and that is the Scriptures, not my likes or dislikes. And in the end, the only thing I want to be known for defending is the cross of Christ. We need to be a church of joy and peace and not one of prohibitions, unless they are biblically warranted.

May God bless you and your ministry, where ever you are and whatever capacity He has called you to.