It's about Transformation not Conformation.
Growing up in the church atmosphere for us kids Sunday school was a source of our indoctrination. We were taught about God and to be careful, little eyes what you see, little tongue what you say, little hands what you do, and little feet where you go. For the Father up above is looking down in love, so be careful little…what you….
I tried my best to conform to what was right, but after a while for some reason it seemed that wrong got the better of me and bingo, I was accused of not trying hard enough and the blame and shame game was played on me. Along with that came the teaching that God was upset with me and did not love me as much when I did wrong as when I did right and that God punishes people for doing wrong. So if I wanted to be on God’s side and in His good favor I had to try harder.
For me as a young believer, this “do right” and “don’t do wrong” mentality caused much stress and anxiety in my life, especially after being taught that if I did wrong and died without asking forgiveness for it, I would end up tortured in Hell forever!
In my opinion the system failed by failing to teach that godliness is not about do’s and don’ts. Do’s and don’ts is not the message of Jesus. Jesus' message is better understood by understanding the make up of a tree. It is what is inside the tree that produces the fruit. The life inside the tree is what counts.
The message of Jesus is…it’s what is inside of us that matters…our thoughts, our feelings, our understanding, our compassion, our kindness, our love, our spirit must be healthy and transformed from within before genuine transformation is realized on the outside.
I tried my best to conform to what was right, but after a while for some reason it seemed that wrong got the better of me and bingo, I was accused of not trying hard enough and the blame and shame game was played on me. Along with that came the teaching that God was upset with me and did not love me as much when I did wrong as when I did right and that God punishes people for doing wrong. So if I wanted to be on God’s side and in His good favor I had to try harder.
For me as a young believer, this “do right” and “don’t do wrong” mentality caused much stress and anxiety in my life, especially after being taught that if I did wrong and died without asking forgiveness for it, I would end up tortured in Hell forever!
In my opinion the system failed by failing to teach that godliness is not about do’s and don’ts. Do’s and don’ts is not the message of Jesus. Jesus' message is better understood by understanding the make up of a tree. It is what is inside the tree that produces the fruit. The life inside the tree is what counts.
The message of Jesus is…it’s what is inside of us that matters…our thoughts, our feelings, our understanding, our compassion, our kindness, our love, our spirit must be healthy and transformed from within before genuine transformation is realized on the outside.
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