Originally Posted by notofworks
Ok, gotcha. I LOVE this subject!!! It's very difficult to limit this to a short post, but I'll try.
This very subject is the beauty of grace! And the beauty of it is, GRACE DOESN'T DRAW LINES!! The Holy Spirit indwells every believer and every believer is empowered and directed by God into "All Truth". This is where legalism ends and grace begins, because the legalist demands absolute lines, whereas grace trusts the power of the Holy Spirit to guide.
Jason, what I'm trying to say is...if you're going to insist that absolute lines be drawn on every single activity of life, you're going to exhaust yourself and make yourself crazy. You see, I don't need to investigate every single act to see if it passes the "sin test". I can, instead, trust that the Holy Spirit, which we know will "convict the world of sin" ("convict", not as in "pronounce guilty", but to "make aware") take care of all the questionable things.
What happens if someone disagrees with "Your line"? If you're not careful, you'll end up like Steve Epley who says that "You can go to heaven with a beard but not from my church." Wouldn't it be so much better to trust your brother and your sister to follow the Holy Spirit for themselves and believe that they are being led in the way God would have them go? If you can't get to that place...the place of trusting your brothers and sisters in Christ...you will make yourself miserable.
Years ago, my son was struggling with some things as he reached his teen years. He had made some bad decisions and wondered how he was going to learn all the right things to do. So I told him, "I can do one of two things for you...One, I can write a book for you and in it detail every single situation for all of life that you may ever possibly encounter and then tell you what you should do in that situation. Each time you encounter anything in life, just get out the book and find out what to do. Of course, the problem is, the book will bigger than this house. Two, I can teach you the principles and values of integrity and Godliness. Then you can live by those principles and make your decision based on those principles.
Jason, whether than wondering about an extreme hypothetical of a guy getting devil tattoos and horns on his head, which I have never heard of a Christian ever wanting to do such a thing, focus on allowing others to follow the voice of the Holy Spirit as He speaks into their lives. Rather than YOU trying to control their lives, let the Holy Spirit control their lives.
Let go. Stop trying to control the spiritual journey of others. Trust God. Trust others.
|
Threaded Mode
