I hear all the time about how in order to be a Christian, you must infallibly believe in absolute truths. There is no room to question God or his law. God is unwavering. God is absolute. With God, everything is black and white.
But Jesus, Jesus came to amend all that. Jesus is compassionate. He is flexible. He is radical. He is both God and man. He is love. He understands our humanness. He came to give us a chance at redemption. What was once black and white is now gray.
Jesus gave us the chance to be unabashedly human. He came to show us that some rules are meant to be broken, and some "church" leaders are not to be trusted. Not so that we could willfully defy him, but so that despite all the mess in our lives, we could always keep a connection to God. With Jesus, it doesn't matter how much baggage you have, because he will always be there to help unpack all of it. We are never too broken for him. In fact, I believe it is often at our most broken that Jesus does his most amazing work.
We must stop focusing so intently on the end goal of holiness and turn instead to emulating the radical love that is Jesus’ legacy. Dogma and rigid rules are nothing more than distractions. We must not fear adversity, but instead see that when we struggle, we struggle with God. God will not abandon us if the hem of our skirts is too short or if we interpret the Bible differently than others. Our spirituality hinges on the condition of our hearts, not the amount of rules we break and keep.
Please know that I am not trying to say that we should live in any way we wish. I am only saying that our focus should be on following God rather than adhering to rules and restrictions dictated by man. When I stand before the Lord at the end of my life, I don't want to say that I led a sinless life. I want to say that I used my gifts and abilities to bring glory to God, and that I served as many people as possible.
