Redemption v. Morality
I’ve been reading a bit about redemption (as opposed to attempting salvation through morality or through religion) and something struck me the other day.
I am redeemed and because I’m redeemed I do my best to obey (but sometimes I don’t). The reason for my redemption is God, His work, not mine. It is His Law I follow, not man’s.
It seems like there are a lot of eternal truths that I am discovering during my time of weight loss, there are so many things that relate to other parts of life.
The women I work with know that I’m on Weight Watchers (imagine the little trademark thingie right here), they know how well I’m doing. One of them is tall and slim, sweets are not her weakness. The other day I was getting M&M’s out of the machine (it’s one where you put the quarter in and turn the knob; it gives you 15 M&M’s) . There is no food on Weight Watchers that’s “against the law”, you plan for your treats, you enjoy them, you track your points. So I enjoy those 15 little pieces of candy.
My co-worker saw me and said, “should you be eating those?” (Yes. There is no reason that I should not.)
I said, “I have the points”…
“But do you really want to be using them on THOSE?” (Yes. I really do.)
Later, I reflected and saw how often the opportunity arises for me to eat to please other people, either more than I should, or what they think I shouldn’t (or should). At that point, my eating is not based on Weight Watcher’s “rules”, my eating is based on what other people think my eating should look like.
My walk with God can be like that. Many people know the “rules” that we “know”, but that are not in the Bible. They may not be bad rules, but they’re not God’s rules.
Our walk becomes, not what is in the Word, but what other people think our walk should look like. It’s morality, not redemption.
If God starts talking to us about it, then listen. If it’s people talking, start talking about redemption.
Many years ago, my sister burned all of her Stephen King books…the pressure was on me. I said (something to the effect of); when God talks to me about it, I’ll obey…if I do it before that, I’m obeying a person, rather than God and I’ve given up the chance of letting God convict me.
It’s that way with my M&M’s. Maybe someday I’ll give them up. But for right now, I have the freedom to enjoy (even a Cadbury egg now and then).
This is a really, really hard line to walk.
People pleasing has manipulated a great deal of my life. I completely agree that we should not direct our lives according to someone else’s conscience. However, doesn’t Romans 14 talk about doing exactly what you describe – not eating something because of the appearance of it? If it affects another person’s walk?
Thanks for the thought-provoking post!
mmm…I wouldn’t drink alcohol around an alcoholic – it would affect their walk. But if it’s a “moralist” that is insisting that it’s a sin to have a single drink, that’s a different situation.
The question then becomes “will my having a drink cause this person to stumble”, or “is this person attempting to lead me into his law, not God’s Law?”
Back to my M&M’s…me eating them didn’t cause my co-worker to stumble (but if I had a candy dish full of them on my desk, there would be some who would stumble), but even though she would not have stumbled, she still discouraged me from eating them for the sake of “the right choice”.
This is a great article. I know I have been convicted of things that are probably just fine for others. I think the think that is challenging for me is sharing what lifestyle changes I have made with others while not sounding preachy or superior. A great example is the fact that we do not have a tv. We watch DVDs and occasionally DH and I watch Internet downloads of shows. But when someone asks me questions about whether I watched a program or how do I handle my kids and TV, I have to explain our lack of one. I feel that this might be perceived as me judging others because they do still watch television. But that’s not it at all; it’s just that God has convicted us and both my husband and myself came to this decision about what is right for our family.
Thanks…I know that I (generally) don’t watch TV. My kids do and I have a TV in my bedroom (I do exercise dvds’s). My students will ask, “did you watch…” and I just tell them that I don’t watch TV. Most of them are amazed and just can’t figure it out.
As an alcoholic (just to address the issue above), I don’t need others to not drink around me as God does the work in me, not others. If I was trying to do this by willpower and what others did around me, I would never make it:)
Great post, we shouldn’t do things because man tells us but because God tells us. I love the fact that we have been redeemed at great price by Jesus Christ on the cross and that no man can put us into slavery again; neither to sin nor the law.
Re the comments above I guess it’s finding the difference between:
Give none offence, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God: Even as I please all men in all things, not seeking mine own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved. (1 Cor 10: 32-33)
And:
For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ. (Galatians 1:10)
That is are we pleasing men to find honour among men, or pleasing men that they might find the salvation of Christ? That is the important question.
Blessings.