I’ve been thinking lately how the Bible gives us the What we must do, but not the How.
We can never fall in love with how we do things! The moment we fall in love with the How we become a Pharisee. I know that sounds a little harsh, but Jesus’ main contention with the Pharisee’s were there insistance of taking a command of God, and then telling everyone how to do it–what they could and could not do!
Jesus said they were like “broods of Vipers.” In other words, they injected venom and poison to those they came into contact with. Mostly because they held people to a standard that was man authored and not God authored. We do the same thing when we measure someone else’s ”how” agains our own, and measure them against our “how.” Like:
- This is “how” you do small groups
- This is “how” you do Sunday morning
- This is “how” you serve your community
- This is “how” you structure _________.
We can only love the What: “Go make Followers of Me Everywhere!” We must love, seeing others come into the Kingdom, others moving with God and investing and loving others into the Kingdom as well. We must love seeing husbands love their wives.
Yet we should never love the How. The moment we love the how, we become a Pharisee and judge of others. We inject poison into their lives and kill many freedoms and empowerment. Not to mention, we stop all forward motion. The purposes of God are always moving forward. They move with people, culture, age and world events. If we fall in love with a how, we drop anchor right there! We move no further. People, culture and context continue to move, but our how is stuck in the mud! We become irrelevant to the those around us! No power, no impact, no Kingdom growth.
Here is a challenge: Feel the weight of the What. Let what God say you must do, and what must happen, and let it drive you to your knees, asking Him how you can do those things. Then be ready to run!
But! Don’t fall in love with it, and tell others that is how they should do it! Don’t poison people!
