Many Religious folks want us to believe,
that following God means being Good and staying out of Trouble
- but really it is the opposite!
story:
One class-series many years ago, I was blessed to teach a group of very powerful Jewish women how to use basic soul tools - not to work with Jesus, just to Open to Spiritual information and action.
They all enjoyed the class, and did well. One particular woman, I will call her Ruth, was really lapping it up, she opened-up a whole new relationship with God.
SO class series over, Ruth says I don't know what I am going to do
- how can I practice this spiritual way,
AND do my religion?
- she was some kind of Jewish Orthodox, a combination of strictness and freedom that wasn’t completely comprehensible to me
- but this is her Life, it is her Family, it is her Culture, it is her Religion, it is her Identity…
I told Ruth, in this practice, you are following God, loving God, connecting to God.
You are letting in the blessings of God, and more overtly co-creating with God in your world...
this is all good, right? yes
Ok, now in your religion, in your way of life, you do good, you love your family, you serve people. You have rules, and it is normal for you to follow them;
there is no necessary contradiction, right? yes
SO, I say to Ruth:
Ok, you are good for now:
Listen, Deepen, Heal, Love, Follow God, Do good works - all is well - FOR NOW.
For awhile everything will be fine…
But, eventually, sooner or later...
God will lead you Out.
I don't know how or what, but I can promise you,
that you will be led in a way that is not aligned with your religion, family, traditions, community...
I don’t know How, What, Where, When, Who...
But I do know God’s leading will cross the lines of the life you have.
And THEN you will have to choose.
Follow God or follow your traditions...
Until then, enjoy yourself ; )
How can I possibly say this??
Because
God doesn’t play by our rules, or any rules.
So, following God’s leading sends us on a collision course with the tyrants of our inner and our outer world.
Therefore, as Jesus said:
If any one doth will to come after me, let him disown himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me - Luke 9 YLT
Because here is the thing:
I have been watching life,
I have been learning from lots of other people’s challenges - and my own.
I have noticed many kinds of spiritual literature,
as well as what is written about Jesus, and in the Bible,
and watching how Spirit leads me, and many others...
So, I can say for sure:
God doesn’t play by our rules.
God doesn’t care about the little fiefdoms we set-up.
God doesn’t care about our culture or the leader/follower game.
God doesn’t care about gender roles or what day of the week it is.
God does not care about our little games we set-up about how life is, and how everyone should do it.
God doesn’t take politics or economics or religion seriously.
God is not limited by our beliefs about Life, the Universe, and Everything.
God is not stopped by our beliefs about the Bible.
God is not controlled by the traditions of our church.
All the Domination systems of this world, are meaningless to God.
All the games we think we have to play to survive, to fit-in, to get love, to be successful...
All the Lines we draw in the sand, and then think we or God can not cross.
God does not honor or pay heed to any of them.
Isn’t it interesting:
Jesus always seemed to be healing on the Sabbath - which was against the rules.
Jesus didn’t care if his disciples followed this rule or that - it drove the religious people batty.
Jesus Being himself,
saying what Abba was saying,
doing what Abba was doing:
Jesus Undermined the Religious Authorities
and the Political/Economic Authorities
and the Cultural/Family Authorities.
So of course, he Had to Go
- he had to be put-down.
Jesus crossed all their lines
of right and wrong,
of good and bad,
of religious and profane,
of oppressor and oppressed
- willy nilly.
And so will we.
Fortunately, we don’t have it so bad.
The age of the martyrs is pretty much over - thank God - we have had enough of that!
So,
Usually it is merely spiritual, not physical death that we sign-up for when we follow Jesus.
Usually it is some mix of emotional, rational, religious, relational, social, familial, financial, vocational, wellness, ego-identity death that we sign-up for
- and that is WAY more than enough!
As we grow-up spiritually...
As we get-beyond the honeymoon phase in our relationship with God...
Spirit WILL likely lead us to cross the wrong people, authorities, structures, belief-systems outside us.
AS WELL AS inevitably lead us to stand-up to the limiting beliefs, limits, structures and energies… within us.
And THEN we will have to choose
- the old way OR the new way...
- the way of the body, ego, world... OR the way of the spiritual warrior/death…
- following OUR current thoughts, beliefs, feelings, habits, religion, culture About God, Life, Truth, Love, Light, Way...
*OR*
ACTUALLY Following our God, Life, Truth, Love, Light, Way...
When we follow God:
We are gonna Change,
our Life is Gonna Change,
eventually the World around us is gonna Change!
From this place, we can engage our Unique Process of Soul Maturity, Teleios
Realizing who we are in God, into our body, life, world...
Anything and Everything that we hold on to, except God, is on it's way out.
Until then, enjoy yourself ; )
: ) Wendy
My favorite Christian Teacher, Dr Bruce Morgan, used to say this often:
Our God is a consuming fire,
who burns up everything that is not God
This is in NO way a downer, BTW.
This is the greatest gift we can receive
- there is sooo much blessing on this road, this narrow way:
And having called near the multitude, with his disciples, he said to them, ‘Whoever doth will to come after me — let him disown himself, and take up his cross, and follow me; for whoever may will to save his life shall lose it; and whoever may lose his life for my sake and for the good news’ sake, he shall save it; for what shall it profit a man, if he may gain the whole world, and forfeit his life? - Mark 8 YLT.
this post has a similar theme, if interested: This is love: we lay down our lives for our friends
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