So, as you may have noticed, I missed yesterday. Because, well, LIFE.
And it's okay. I'm a grown woman and I do what I want, so Write 31 Days will not be the boss of me. It's now officially Write 30 Days and could very well continue to decline from there.
Sometimes the best thing you can do to get back to life that is truly life is to just relax, breathe, and let it go. I guess I could've jotted that down yesterday.
This brings me to an interesting aspect of Life that is Truly Life, which is the simple fact that the only voice that matters is God's.
You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. For through the Spirit we eagerly await by faith the righteousness for which we hope. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love. {Galatians 5:4-6}
For the early church, it was cultural norms like circumcision that people would turn to as a way of finding favor with God, of being justified. For the church today, it can look like many different things. We are surrounded by a culture of Christianity when in church, and there is an "acceptable way" of doing things. There are implied expectations on individuals who claim to love and follow Christ, but sometimes I wonder if all these expectations are really from God?
Most of these expectations are even good, like reading through your bible in a year, attending bible studies once a week, serving on Sunday, helping out on Wednesday, and being present at every event in between. But woven deep into the fabric of our being is the lie that we need to earn God's favor, that He's ready and waiting to punish us for our misdeeds and we need to do all we can to tip the scale in our favor. Our good deeds must outweigh our bad, and then we will be okay. We will pass the test.
However, as many may be surprised to learn, there will be no test. There is no cosmic scale. The only thing that will count in the end is blood: either we allowed Christ to shed His blood for us while we were still on earth, or we can pay with our own on Judgement Day.
So I ask you today, friends, where do you find yourself still striving? Still trying to earn the creds yourself? We as a church body can be doing many good things for all the wrong reasons. We may even be praised for doing the wrong things because it's the grease in the cogs that keeps the church running. Someone has to do it, right?
But I'd encourage you to stop and consider your motives: ask yourself whose voice is telling you to do the things you do. Because the only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love, and that will always bring you closer to God. That will always fill your heart with peace, not make it unsettled. That will always create a calmness in your soul, not fill your plate with business and worry.
The only voice that matters is God's.
And if I'm a follower of Christ, my life no longer being my own, the conviction I receive from the Holy Spirit should guide and correct my steps. Not what the pastor expects from me on Sunday morning. Not what fellow church-goers will think of me. Not the list of things I "should be doing" in order to "be a good Christian."
Any voice that speaks from a place of fear, guilt, shame, condemnation, obligation, or hastiness is not the voice of God.
Whose voice are you listening to today?