Above Morality

While many would describe Christians as bland, avoiding of conflict, haters of homo's, weak, cliche, lack of adventure, and hypocritical, that is not, however, the picture that we are painted throughout Scripture. In fact, Jesus was the opposite of all of these things. He was never afraid to pick a fight if there was a fight that needed to be picked. He was who He appeared to be. He was bold, loved all humanity, and took on whatever came His way.

So why is it that so many Christians live in such a way that would suggest these things to the casual observer? This shouldn't be the case, yet for so many it is. Life in Christ should mean a life filled with freedom, yet so many do not actually live as if they have this freedom. Is there a reason? Has someone or something sucked the joy out of life? Jesus says that He came to give life and life more abundantly, but where is that life and when does it start? He never said anything about waiting until we die in order to get this more abundant life into gear. Life was a part of God's plan from the beginning. He breathed life into His creation. He created so much simply for the purpose of enjoyment. There is no reason we need an endless array of colors, yet we have all these colors and they are designed for us to enjoy and for us to feel. Every color is to produce a feeling, which shows that we don't have to be emotionless, rather at our core we are emotional beings meant to feel a broad range of feelings as reaction to what is around us. There should be a sense of adventure and exploration of this world that we are supposed to live in.

Has something squelched our dreams of a better world and our desired creativity that will lead us to make those dreams reality?

I'm afraid that over the years our teachings have been too focused on what we are not allowed to do and has veered totally away from what we are to be doing as people who follow Jesus. Who cares what we aren't allowed to do, we need to be awakened into this world that He created for us and engage in the endless options of things we get to participate in.

Justice is at the core of everything we are able to do. When we participate in bringing justice to areas of the world where justice is lacking, then we are participating in things that Jesus Himself participated in. Everyone has a thirst on some level for justice, however, many have somehow convinced ourselves that things will never be made right. Our dreams of a better tomorrow have been damaged, but they won't be crushed. That dream will always live within us.

Yet, instead of pursuing justice we try to manage how many times we "sin." We try to be the best person we can be. But, Jesus didn't call us to be good people. He called us to be game changers. He called us to have character. To get mad about things that were not a part of His original plan. To live a life worthy of the calling we have received. Yet so many have settled for trying to be "good." And it's a wonder why all these labels Christians have been given are out there. If good morality is the goal than we have greatly missed the point.

Henry David Thoreau summed it all up in one beautiful statement:

"Aim above morality. Be not simply good, be good for something."