You’re Not The Boss Of Me
I don’t know about you, but I know how I am. I really resist when someone tells me what to do. If I see a don’t walk on the grass sign, I’m probably going to stick a toe on it. If I see a wet paint sign, I will probably touch it to see if it’s still wet. I just have this strange aversion to being told what I can or cannot do.
This ends up being the way things happen at church too. It’s a command to tithe? I’m probably not going to want to tithe. I have to be in church when the church has services? I’m probably going to skip some. Come up with some others and I’m probably going to break those rules too. Even now that I have known the Lord for the past sixteen years, I still feel that way.
Why? Well, I’ve been wondering that too. I’ve scratched my head. I’ve pondered. I’ve mulled it over. And I think I’ve finally figured it out.
When I hear these commands in sermons, the focus always seems to me to be the rules and the commands themselves. They stand there like some sort of barrier between the Lord and me. All I see are the rules, commands and laws. They make me want to stand up and say, “You’re not the boss of me!!!”
Now, what makes me want to tithe? What makes me want to be at every church service imaginable? Let me tell you.
It’s when I get such a picture of the glory of God through Christ that I am so excited that I cannot help but want to tithe and go to church. It’s when I am so focused on Christ and see Him so clearly that I cannot see anything else. When I ‘m not getting that kind of picture, those things become rules and law to me. And best I can tell, Christ came to free me from rules, commands and laws. He set me free so that, because of His glory, I will do the things that rules and laws can’t make me do.
Want me to do all of those things? Paint me a picture of the irresistible Christ. Don’t tell me to follow this rule, this law or this command. You’re not the boss of me.
Anyone else ever want to stand up and yell “You’re not the boss of me?”
Larry Carter = John Locke
@Matt: you mean he’s just blowing smoke?
@Larry: Good post. Think this is indicative of human nature in general. We as a species don’t like to be told what to do. Look no further than the garden. “Did you eat of the tree I told you not to eat of?”
Thanks, Chad.
Matt, that would be the real John Locks, not Flocks.