Monday, November 26, 2007
As if you're doing it for the Lord
I think this has got to be one of the most frequently misused ideas in modern Christianity. So often I've heard this phrase used to try to turn people into paranoid perfectionists, afraid that somehow if they don't do something really well they're failing as Christians. The irony, I think, is that the center of Christian beliefe is that God has loved us in spite of our shortcomings, in spite of our sin and rebellion, so if we are doing things for Him, wouldn't it be with the knowledge that He knows we are but dust? And yet people scare others away from bringing their honnest, if feeble, offerings by implying that one has to strive to be excellent in everything or else they must not really be doing things as if for God. That is an absolutely ludicrous idea. It takes us out of God's grace and back into the trap that all other religions end up boiling down to - you must save yourself: By doing this, by saying that, by striving to become perfect, by dedication and effort you must gain your salvation. NO! God has provided attonement, He has granted forgiveness, and He has given us His spirit to live inside us and help guide us out of the destructive ways we are mired in in this life. His hand upholds us, not our own two legs. I think that 'doing things as if for God' means with a spirit of communion with and service toward Him. It means looking for His hand in every day life, looking for what he is doing and choosing your actions to follow along with His, it means letting Him work through you and acting with a heart that is in sync. with His. It's not how well you are able to do things or how hard you try to be perfect in everything, it's listening for His guidance, and dedicating all the sucess to Him. We are very limited beings, we simply cannot do everything to our utmost - overdrive is called overdrive for a reason. We have to choose what to focus more effort on and what we have to resign to the 'backburner'. But even the things we can't spend all our efforts on we can do with a heart that is in step with the Spirit of God, with love, with mercy and justice, with the desire to give Him glory and thanks. That is doing things as if for the Lord.
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4 comments:
And even the Benedictines who believe in giving everything full effort also firmly believe in stopping and going on to the next thing at a certain point (for them, when the bell rings). No matter how it's going, no matter if you think you just need fifteen more minutes to make it "perfect." Continuing to do one thing, even if it's going well, can also mean that you're putting something else off. It can be another form of perfectionism that ruins balance.
indeed. being 'finite' is something that you have to come to terms with if you're ever going to lead a satisfied life - as crazy as that may sound - you can't feel full untill you realize you can't contain everything. If you're too busy trying to cram everything into your schedual, into your mind, into your heart, you won't ever feel satisfied and you won't savor anything. I think it's a little like the difference between eating to the portion size and eating till you're full. This world is a bigger portion than any man can hold, but like an expensive meal, the price is worth the enjoyment you get, if you feel bloated and sick and overwhelmed you're not getting your money's worth ;)
Yes! I have a really hard time remembering and not feeling bad that I can't do everything, but it's so true.
That's one of the awful things about some of the early Christians believing flesh is evil, pain is good, and one should fast as much as possible and all that. In doing so, they're denying our mortality, our dependence on our infinite Creator.
Recently I realized that one of the fun things about a game I started playing, World of Warcraft, is that there's so much to do and I'll never finish it all. So why is that good and exciting in a game and bad and overwhelming in real life? (=
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maybe because you don't feel obligated to do anything in the world of the game, whereas in real life the decisions you make are more criticle and your will is often in conflict with other's will for you.
It really is too bad that the mistakes of predecessors can cause so many problems so far down the line. =/
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