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Watch Out for a New Kind of LEGALISM

And while a good number of us need to be pushed off high cliffs because we weren’t living our stories because we were numb or afraid … we need to move to apartments, adopt children, change careers, dream big …

most of us are obediently staying,

obediently leading 15-year-olds every Sunday at youth group,

obediently cooking for our friend who just had a baby,

obediently grabbing Starbucks before a mundane day at a job we don’t love,

obediently inviting co-workers into our homes that may be a little too big,

obediently dropping our husband’s shirts at the dry cleaners,

obediently taking care of sick kids or deeply sick parents,

obediently living without fanfare,

obediently cheering for someone else’s more radical, God-ordained adventures,

obediently joyful and thankful for easy days that don’t hurt.

Go ahead and read anything, pray anything and receive anything God has for you.

Even if it is blessing. Even if it is quiet. Even if nothing on the outside changes.

“What is more pleasing to the LORD: your burnt offerings and sacrifices or your obedience to his voice? Listen! Obedience is better than sacrifice, and submission is better than offering … ” 1 Sam. 15:22

I am reposting this because of reading a thought-provoking article in Christianity Today. All of us — as writers and prophets and teachers — are doing our best to call out sin and move our hearts closer to the heart of Christ. But as with all teaching taken to an extreme, we become focused on outward signs of inner realities. Christ was, and is, always most concerned with the inner realities.

I think this is a terribly important conversation in our generation in the church.

What do you all see as the tension?