A Bible Verse to Set You Free:
“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” Galatians 5:1
I think that there’s a pretty common misconception about Christianity, or being a Christian. Basically, it’s that life is revolved around following an innumerable amount of rules. Therefore, how could life as a Christian be any fun?
When I was in college, I used to watch a lot of stand-up comedy on Comedy Central. I remember one comedian, I can’t remember who it was, had a joke along this theory.
He talked about how he was raised Catholic, and he summed up his Catholic experience like this: “If it feels good – stop.”
The audience laughed, and at the time I laughed too. I think now that it’s funny for those who are ignorant – because I certainly was at the time.
We have this connotation of religion being married to the fact that we have to deprive ourselves of life’s pleasures and fun.
I think too that this connotation comes from a misguided notion of what Christianity is really all about. I too didn’t understand until I took it upon myself to study the Bible.
For all of the time that I spent in church when I was young, I only went because I had to. I only went to confirmation because I had to. Memorizing scriptures? Because I had to.
I was taught the Ten Commandments, and life as a Christian felt like following a set of “Thou shall not…”
And then one day I had an epiphany.
As I said, it wasn’t until I read the Bible because I WANTED to. One day I was reading, and I came upon a verse for, seemingly, the first time.
36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” Matthew 22:36-40
Jesus is asked which of the Commandments was most important. It seems like a logical question.
*Side note, the context of the question was to catch Jesus preaching heresy, not in actual interest. That, however, is beside the point of this article.
What struck me was how Jesus summed up the whole Ten Commandments into two.
Love God, and love your neighbor as you love yourself.
For the first time, I realized that this totally makes sense. Even more, I realized that this was a list of “Shall’s instead of shall not’s.”
And that kind of blew my mind. It still does.
"For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life." John 3:16
This is a commonly quoted verse from the Bible, and the subject of love is discussed frequently throughout the Bible.
In reality, the Bible is an ongoing testament to God’s love for all of us.
Then I had another epiphany.
I’ve always known (from my younger days anyways) the stark contrast between the Old and New Testaments.
The Old Testament is filled with examples of God’s wrath and retribution, while in the New Testament, He is portrayed as a loving God.
What’s with the contrast?
I think it’s important to remember that the Bible was written over a period of centuries. We read it like a book today, but the pages were written over several lifetimes.
This is conjecture, but perhaps God altered his approach to mankind?
I’m not inferring that He made mistakes in judgement or action, but think about it for a second.
In the Old Testament, He’s upset because He created this perfect world to share with us, and we ruined it.
Over and over again we continued to ruin his grace by not following His rules. So He gave us Ten concrete rules (literally written in stone), and we still disobeyed.
So maybe He goes, “Ok, these guys just aren’t getting it. Maybe I will have better success if I show them how much I love them, and they’ll see that the rules are for their own good.”
That’s a simplistic example, and of course I have no way of knowing what God ever did or does think. But I think that with all of His wisdom, He knows the value of evaluating one’s personal actions.
It’s been said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
In this case, I think that He is powerful enough to understand that He can be more effective with a different approach. And if that’s the case, I don’t think it’s beneath Him to do so.
Here’s My Ultra-Simplified Analogy
I don’t want to offend anyone with this analogy, so I’m just putting this out here: this is my attempt at humor.
I am not serious, this is in jest. There; you’ve been warned.
That being said, I picture God from the Old Testament like an old crotchety neighbor. The one always yelling at the kids to get off his lawn.
The guy with the neatly pressed clothes and immaculately waxed Buick.
He likes to have things his way, and he gets upset with others who think and act differently.
And then one day he becomes a grandpa, and it’s like he discovers a love like he never knew before. Now he’s getting down on the floor and playing with the grandkids.
He doesn’t mind when they make a mess of his lawn or his house. He’s just happy to share the time with them. He appreciates their innocence and laughter.
They have changed him, and the time and memories that they share will have a lasting impression throughout their lives.
I don’t think that it’s conceited to say that we can have an effect on God, similar to the cranky old man.
I’m not saying that God was wrong before, I’m just saying that sometimes, maybe you change your mind after having spent time with someone.
I’m pretty sure that doesn’t apply to God, who is all-knowing, but we do see examples throughout the Bible of where He has changed His mind, so it’s not out of the question.
Back to Today’s Verse
That was a long intro to the verse itself for today, so I’ll try to circle back and wrap this up.
When we think about the context of being a Christian, there’s that misconception that we are slaves to the rules put in place.
Some of them are easy – don’t murder. Ok, got it.
How about, don’t be envious of your neighbor? Don’t lust? Don’t put an idol before God (yes, that includes money)?
Those are difficult. We’re taught that if you commit those sins, you’re a sinner. Plain and simple.
The hard truth is that technically that is true. We are all sinners. Some more than others, but we all are.
Accept this, and continually pray for forgiveness. Every day.
The reason why I wanted to share this verse for today was to present an opportunity to retrain your brain into how we all think about being a Christian (I promise this brings it all together).
Instead of thinking about the Ten Commandments, and the rules, and how we have to follow the rules and how being a Christian is so hard, and how we can’t have any fun because of the rules, and on and on and on.
Try, instead, thinking of the Two Commandments of what we SHOULD do.
“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’
When you think of it this way, at least for me, it’s not a list of rules to follow.
Let’s face it; subconsciously, rules are hard to follow. The fact that they exist in the first place makes it enticing to break them (for some of us anyways).
We don’t like being told what to do, or how to act, or what to think, etc.
Some of us are so stubborn that we do the opposite – just out of principle.
But if we think of the Two Commandments, then it’s not a set of rules for things that we CAN’T do, it’s a short list of suggestions for what we CAN, and should do.
This epiphany, or retraining of my brain, has led to freedom for me. It has freed me from the misconception that my Christian life will be filled with no fun.
That’s a small win, but it’s important when we think of our perspective of being a Christian. If we’re truly free, then we can share that experience with others as an act of love.
By doing so, we’re fulfilling the Two Commandments and witnessing to others, which has always been our purpose.
I’d love to hear your thoughts about this. Please let me know what you think in the comments section below!
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