Thankful For Freedom

I no longer call you slaves, because a master doesn’t confide in his slaves. Now you are my friends, since I have told you everything the Father told me.

John 15:15 

 

I remember growing up in the church and finding out there were so many rules, regulations, and rituals that it was impossible to keep them all.  No matter how hard I tried, I just never quite measured up and that was discouraging.  Finally I reached the point where I just knew I would never be "good enough" so I just went through the motions and hoped no one noticed if I missed any of the rules, regulations or rituals.

 

Finally, as a teenager, I began skipping church as often as possible.  I had grown tired of feeling like God was sitting in His heaven just waiting to whack me on the head or drop a whale on my head for not measuring up.  The guilt was overwhelming, and let me tell you guilt is a heavy burden to lug around.  Not only that, but people are NOT afraid to add more to your burden without a thought.

 

When I got to college, I had pretty much stopped attending church, or if I did go (to keep my parents happy) I would daydream, doodle on the bulletin, bring a book to read, anything to not listen to more about the rules, regulations and rituals.  Finally, I found a book that made things a lot clearer for me.  It was by Steve Brown entitled When Being Good Isn't Good Enough.  It was in this book that I discovered that the words Jesus spoke in John 15:15 applied to me.  I was no longer His servant, but His friend.  THAT changed my entire perspective and the guilt I had carried for so long melted away.

 

We are friends of Jesus.  We are Children of the King of Kings.  We are God's adopted children.  And because of that, We are free to have a relationship with God through Christ.

And know this: Relationship is much better than Rules, Regulations and Rituals!