Taking Responsibility – 9 September 2009

“Godly discipline is different to the rules and regulations of bureaucratic organisations.  The answer to legalism is not a vacuum, but clarity about our priorities.  To live authentically means that I choose my lifestyle, I do not succumb to the lifestyle others foist upon me.  It means that I use my time, money and talents according to my deepest convictions.”

So writes Ray Simpson in “A Pilgrim Way”.  He goes on to say:

“In the changed circumstances of the third millennium, the person in the street needs a Way. Technology and mobility give us so many choices that our lives, without a framework, become driven by external stimuli and unsifted expectations.

“Sports people understand this.  They measure their performance against objective standards.  We all need something against which we can measure our performance.  We are “spiritual athletes” who train and run for Christ (1 Cor. 9:25)

“Today, those who seek after a way of life are just as likely to look for it in a Buddhist monastery or a mosque as in a Christian church. Someone told me: ‘I visited churches and found ritual; I visited a Buddhist monastery and found a path to follow’.  A young British Muslim described his faith as “a complete way of life, not only a religion – it keeps your feet on the ground, teaches you everything in life that you need to know”.

“If Christianity is not lived out as a complete way of life, the vacuum will be filled by other religions.”

I know how often it feels like my Christianity is a part of my life rather than the whole purpose and function of my life.  Whether it’s out shopping, at work, doing chores or reading a book, whatever it is, my Christian faith is something to be lived out as I journey through life.  My destiny is to become like Christ and my whole life should be shaped to enable me to become more like Him through the work of the Holy Spirit in me – but so much squeezes that out of my lives, I sense that having a Way of Life would help me become more intentional about this.

We have to recapture the vision and passion for Christ that would make us “spiritual athletes” who train and run for Him as the very purpose of our being.  Consider your own life – what “way” are you following – truthfully, what is the choice you are making by the way you live your life day by day?