B.S.

(Bitter Springs)

James 3:11 “Does a fountain send out from the same opening both fresh and bitter water?”

God has “called” my heart on it’s B.S. (Bitter Spring) and I want to confess my sin to you all. You see, James chapter three opens with a warning. The warning is simply that not many people should become teachers. The reason? The teacher will be judged with greater strictness.

The problem with being a teacher is that most of your time is spent trying to draw clear lines of logic that expand and explain the truth. In doing so, I make an effort to build a case much like a lawyer does. I examine biblical directives and try to delineate what the passage really means and then apply it to life and practice for both body of Christ and myself. In recent years my target has often been religious people. Now, just so you understand, by religious people I mean Christians that carry a certain dogma that becomes the all-encompassing truth of their lives. Some examples might include the “I only listen to Christian music “crowd, or the “If you really love Jesus you will home school your kids crowd”. Religious people are my favorite people to make fun of. Maybe you can empathize? Maybe you have been the object of scorn as the people in your church find out you have had a divorce, or like to drink a beer, or _____________ (you fill in the blank). Maybe, like me ,these experiences have soured your appetite for people and their religious perspectives. Whether it be about the day you worship on, the people you associate with, or the way you dress often our relationship with Jesus can get reduced to a list of rules and do’s or don’ts that lead to a graceless existence that feels more like slavery than love. So….As a teacher, I point out the logical errors that people who hold such values have made and seek to defend those that have been oppressed by “religion”. Religious people make an easy target.

The interesting thing is that I can often fall off the horse the other way too. What I mean is that my view of liberty can become the new religious set of rules by which I judge those who don’t share the same liberty. I should always defend the freedom that we have in Christ, and the simplicity that is in the gospel (Jesus plus nothing else). Liberty in Christ must be defended because a church that sets it’s standard by the person with the weakest faith becomes a church weak in faith. But, I can often take that too far. You see, some of those “religious” people, are just that, “weak in faith.”

Romans 14:1 “As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions.”

When I make Christians with a weak conscience feel like they are second class Christians because they don’t feel the freedom to eat, or drink, or worship the way I do; I do a disservice to the gospel. Part of the gospel is that Jesus freed us from religion to a relationship with Him. As with any relationship, the uniqueness of the relationship is derived from the uniqueness of the individuals involved and various ways that they express love to one another. Therefore some people love Jesus by worshipping on a specific day every week, others worship God by dressing up in their Sunday best for church. Some folks love Jesus most when their radio station is set to KLOVE 24/7 and they can listen to Christian radio all day long. My job is to encourage people to love Jesus. What that may look like, is God’s business. Noah built a boat, Abraham built an altar, Isaac dug wells, Jacob poured oil on a rock, David danced in his under-roos, some wrote songs, others played instruments, others created magnificent works of art, and others still, built things with the talents God gave them in construction. There are people in our town that love Jesus with dancing, with home-made denim skirts, by blowing a shofar at specific times of the day, by celebrating the jewish feasts with Christian understanding, out of hymnals, with electric guitars, some with long hair, some with short hair, some with no hair and a neck beard!

Worship has little to do with the form and everything to do with the heart.

As a teacher, I have to guard my heart against B.S (Bitter Springs) for with my mouth I can bless God and curse those around me that are created in His image…These things ought not to be……Father in heaven, friends and family. Please forgive me.