True Religion (but not the jeans)

We often see throughout the gospels where the Pharisees, (religious individual) would challenge Jesus’ teaching’s. The fact that the religious had gotten so distracted by their religion and laws to keep that they missed the point of everything has bothered me for some time now. I would read the passages of these religious people and the burdens they would put on others, the judgment they would pass, the self made rules, the pride and the wanting to be seen of others, and I would ask myself, “how could they have possibly been so blind to what was going on”? It would enrage me to see the fact that these people were literally witnessing the Son of God in their midst, and His grace and mercy and teachings, and when it comes down to it they became hung up on “rules”. Choose your word as you please, rules, laws, commandments, or what have you, but at the end of the day, they are still rules. So, in my frustration at how someone could possibly miss the BIG PICTURE it dawned on me that I myself was not far off from just being another hypocritical Pharisee. 

And he said to them, "Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, "'This people honours me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.' You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men." And he said to them, "You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition!

Mark 7:6-9 (ESV)

And this hit me like a ton of bricks. I had to repent and ask God for forgiveness for rejecting the greatest commandment of all which is loving God, and also to love others. I know, I know, it is wishy washy to talk about love all the time. But seriously, I am holding to what I’ve always known, “the traditions of man” and I am forsaking His greatest purpose for each of us; just LOVE Him, and love others.

The problem I then had to sort through, (might I add, still am) is all the laws.

What about all the laws? What about the rules? Yes, indeed we are to live a regenerate life and we are new creatures, therefore we must put the old man to rest. 

Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority. In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by cancelling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him. Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions,puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind, and not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God. If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations--"Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch" (referring to things that all perish as they are used)--according to human precepts and teachings? These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.

Colossians 2:6-23 (ESV)

By putting the old creature to death and becoming a new creature we must allow the fruits if the Spirit to grow and flourish through our life. Love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. And though there may be an appearance of wisdom in man made religion and asceticism let us fight that urge to follow it. I strongly suggest you read the entire chapter of Galatians 5 at this point and ponder whether you are following the true religion. Love. Feel free to share any thoughts or opinions with me. And if you would like to talk further with me regarding this topic please, please do not hesitate. Let us journey nearer to Jesus together!

Desiring a Burden

A daily prayer of mine is to “find a burden for my generation, and fulfill it”. I have been spending more time as of late painstakingly pondering the direction and purpose both of myself and my peers. I am a millennial and thus identify most with millennials, and also have the greatest desire to reach and connect amongst my fellow generation. I suggest you pause here, go read this, written by my great friend. If you don’t understand millennials, this will help.

As I pondered fulfilling a desire to be burdened for others it dawned on me that by simply desiring a burden for others proves we already do have that burden. So what does it even mean you may ask to have a “burden” for others? I would define the term burden as “feeling a responsibility for the well being of others in all aspects of their life," i.e. spiritual, mental, physical, and emotional well being. So then the questions progress to ask, how, and why? To answer this is not entirely simple. The why should be fairly clear to the Christian, because it is our mandate to care for, and love others. We ought to be concerned about others well being at least as much as we care for our own selves. Love your neighbour as you love yourself; the second commandment only next to loving God with all of our being. To answer the “how” will definitely vary based on each unique individual. I can most effectively seek for my own individual burden and how to fulfill that, however, I also feel as though that a part of my burden is helping others find their vocation. 

I greatly desire a time where we can put away our fears of being criticized and judged by others, and will fully pursue the well being of those all surrounding us. I don’t claim to know everything or to have all the answers, but I do claim that through honest and authentic community we will find the answers together, and further our fulfillment within our Christian lives.

If you also have been praying and seeking fulfillment of a burden for others, I welcome your comments, your company, your thoughts. Let’s move forward together. Let’s seek community. Let’s seek the purpose of each of our lives.

Humility

C.S. Lewis once said, 

“True humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less.”

How often we all struggle with our own pride. To assert that we have no pride is in itself prideful. Now, I don't personally know of a single individual who thinks that their opinion, point of view, beliefs, and generally speaking, their actions, are wrong. We could all agree that if someone thinks that their own opinion, beliefs, etc are wrong that this particular individual might need to be checked in to a mental institution. I would argue that pride in its essence, or purest form, is simply thinking to highly of oneself or of ones own actions, thoughts, or beliefs. The issue with this is that someone, if not most people, if not you and I, will eventually have to admit that our position may have been wrong. What's most important is how we will handle ourselves knowing we have done or said wrong. Pride is knowing this and refusing to change and apologize, and right what was wrong. The difference between truly "repenting" or just feeling bad, saying sorry, and continuing in our sin against others or God. 

As of late, one passage of scripture that has been challenging me regarding humility is found in Philippians 2:1-4 (ESV) “So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.”

The NIV says v.3 “Rather, in humility value others above yourselves,”

So, back to C.S. Lewis’ quote, “True humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less.” If I could add at all to this wise mans words I might say, True humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less, but also, to think more highly of others.  Maybe now would be a good time to stop and consider my actions and my opinions of others. Maybe I should value them and their opinion at the same level I value my own. Did Jesus himself not say to “love your neighbour as yourself?” 

Feel free to share your thoughts, beliefs and opinions in the comments; I promise I will do my best to practice what I preach.

Complex simplicity.

The topic of salvation can quickly become a very drawn out debate to what exactly it means to obtain salvation. I believe that is a rabbit trail that can often cause more damage than good. So often we attempt to over explain and make complex the simple instructions that we have for salvation. Now, I may take flak for this for not fully explaining the plan of salvation or doing it justice, but I feel I am doing the opposite. I feel that by simplifying the plan of salvation to its most pure, organic, natural, and simplest definition, then we are not "dumbing it down" or "leaving anything out", but rather we are telling it as it is without creating a confusing, complicated complexity that causes so many divisions between believers. Jesus gave Peter the keys to the kingdom. Why? Peter recognized that Jesus was indeed the Christ, the very Son of God. Jesus said to Peter in return that whatever he would loose on earth shall be loosed, and whatever Peter bound on earth shall be bound in Heaven. Fast forward to the day of Pentecost. Peter, standing with the 11 other apostles, and also with the keys to the kingdom gives us the instructions for salvation in the simplest most condensed way. Repent, be baptized in the name of Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins. And that, ladies and gentleman is all we have to do. "Wait!" you proclaim, "it doesn't end there, there is more we must do". Incorrect, if we have done those two things we have fulfilled our instructions. From that point forward we WILL receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, however, that is not something you or I can give ourselves or give others, that is Gods work and if we just simply follow repentance and baptism, God will fill us with His Spirit. The key is being sincere with our repentance, so often we apologize and say sorry but continue on in our ways. Repentance, however, is a change of heart and a change of attitude and a change of lifestyle. In conclusion, I feel I may need to begin simplifying my definition of the plan of salvation. Here it is: Acts 2:28 Simple.

What does it mean to actually practice Christianity?

This question has been stirring me for years now. Matthew 23 is probably a great place to really examine this question. First, before you continue reading this post I challenge you to go and read Matthew 23. I feel like I have personally justified my own actions and way of living by following our "standards" we set as our guidelines. I am growing continually uneasy, however, that I may be becoming a Pharisee myself. It seems that I condemn others to hell if they do not replicate my understanding of being a Christian. I have been guilty of judging others because they do not follow the "standards" of their local assembly. Woe to me! I pray that my understanding and wisdom grows, but I pray my grace and love and patience grow also. 1 Corinthians 13 convicts me to assess my life and my actions and my motives. Have I been been guilty of not loving? And you may say, "Love, love, love, all I ever hear is just love", and you may judge those who preach love. We accuse others of being "wishy-washy" by preaching love above all else. Now, there be some truth in our accusations, BUT, what is THE greatest commandment? Jesus said LOVE the Lord with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. Furthermore, Jesus continued on to say that we must LOVE our neighbour (friends, co-worker, family, acquaintances, enemy) as we love ourself?!?! Surely he must not have meant that? Surely Jesus meant to live our lives by a set of rules and condemn others who don't abide by them! NO! Jesus did not say that. Jesus said if we keep these two commandments that all the other laws are fulfilled. We are fulfilling all the laws by only loving others (Romans 13:8-10). So, I again pose the question to myself and to you, "what does it mean to actually practice Christianity?". The answer is simple but the action, especially the second part can be hard, love God, and love people. I challenge you and I to practice being a Christian today. I challenge us to stop judging others and to try loving them instead. I wonder what might happen if we could change our ways...

Miracles still happen!

I have decided to begin (or attempt to begin) blogging once again. If no one but myself reads this blog that is completely fine by me. I have matured (I hope) since my last blog which mostly contained pictures of random fails and useless drivel that made me think I was intelligent and clever, which I was definitely not. So, the feelings and thoughts expressed on this site are completely those of Nicholas Norris and are not meant to offend, ridicule, or cause anxiety to anyone in particular or in general. These thoughts and posts, however, are meant to cause at least myself and hopefully others to think and to consider whatever topic I may discuss. I often attempt to challenge my thinking in order that I may become a more balanced and mature Christian. What can you expect to see or read on this blog? Likely you will find my posts to be various rambles or rants about any number of topics, you may find me discussing a book I have read or am reading and my thoughts and feelings about that book, you will find topics that I often ponder and meditate about being a young Christian and how I would enjoy to share and challenge others to confront issues of our way of thinking and our actions. You may find my feelings and thoughts on world events that I find intriguing, saddening, interesting, entertaining, or merely what I may consider worthy of discussing. I won't bore you with details for now though. If you read this blog and enjoy it, let me know. If you think I should discuss a certain topic, again, feel free to comment and let me know what you feel is worth sharing. I approve this message, Nicholas Norris