what is a "new life?"  by john o'keefe

when i was a kid my mother got me a toy called "see and say."  now, i am certain most of us had this little gem of a toy; i thought it was the coolest toy ever.  you turned the dial to point to a picture, pull the string and "presto," the magic of pre-recorded technology.  point to the cow, pull the string and, "the cow says moo." would come out of its little tinny speaker.  but like most everything else in my home it went the way of the "forbidden zone."  meaning, over time, and several younger brothers and sister, when you pointed to the cow and pulled the string you got, "the pig says oink."  the "forbidden zone" was the bottom of my mothers closet - what ever was broken simply ended it's life in "the forbidden zone."  it's not that we were keeping "junk" - we tried to fix it.  we hit it, and that did nothing; we shook it, and that did nothing; we even "let it rest" for a few days, and that did nothing.  over time we realized that it was harder then we thought to fix, so in the "forbidden zone" it went.

when i think of the church, i picture of a broken "see and say" in my mind; all the information is there, but the dial is messed up.  over time we have tried hitting it, shaking it and even tried ignoring it to see if we can "fix" the problem.  nothing worked.  so, for a great many people, the church has been placed in the "forbidden zone" of their lives.  without getting into the whole "americanizing" of the church, i would like to discuss one of the "broken" recordings - when we point the "see and say" arrow at "a new life" the tinny recording says, "we are only human" and that is not what it is supposed to say.

"the questions"

i have written before on the fact that i am extremely tired of the church's claim that "we are only human" when it comes to its faults and its cruelty.  mainly, because that defense gives it a "cop-out" from the reality we are to be living under as christians.  what the argument says is, "we can't change and we have no intention of changing.  accept us for our humanity."  if that is true, and changing our humanity is impossible, why should anyone join the church?  another quote i hear is, "we are trying, but we stumble."  all right, then what do you do with the scripture (john) where jesus is calling himself "the light" and that if you live in "the light" you will not "stumble around in the darkness."  and, if you stumble and insult someone, you should make every effort to admit your mistake and ask for forgiveness.  you see, for me, when i hear that "we are only human" i am hearing that we are no different from those outside the church.  if those inside the church act as those outside the church, why come in at all?  because if walking in christ grants you a changed life of love, kindness and understanding and the church has none of these - is it walking in a changed life with christ?  if we are placing our human inabilities to change above God's abilities to change us are we in some way walking away from the divine and into the sublime?  if we can not get past our humanity, how do we define a "new life?"

scripture

in matthew (15:17-20) jesus teaches that the law is not what defines a "new life."  so, following a set pattern of rules and regulations will not bring about this change we need to truly live a "new life" in christ.  it then simply follows to say that following a set of rules or regulations is not a sign that you are living a "new life," only a legal life.  jesus teaches us that it is what we say, how we say it, and how we act that is the evidence of a "new life."  in john (john 1:12-13) we know that a "new life" comes from God and not humanity.  it is a spiritual transformation of who we are into a "new life" being.  this evidence of a new life is also required for our walk to be right - it is a must, and not an option.  it is centered on our spiritual transformation when we accept jesus christ as our lord and savior.  you see, in john, we are told that we must "believe and accept" before we can be called "children of God."

if we look at james (1:19-23; 3:1012) we see what "believe and accept" are all about.  james informs us that we are to "listen and obey."  james tells us to listen to the words, then act upon what we have heard.  if we just listen, and do not obey, we are fooling ourselves.  so, to not obey is to live outside of a relationship were we "believe and obey."  the basis of this relationship is the understanding that it is a must, and not an option - it's all or nothing, the tough and the easy.  we must rid ourselves of gossip, malice and all kinds of evil actions and words.  we must live in love and self-discipline (notice the word is "self-discipline" and not "imposed-discipline").  we must fix ourselves on what is true (his teachings) honorable (his life) and right (his divinity).  our minds must be se to what is in love, in purity and what is admirable (not admirable in human standards).  we must constantly think of what is excellent and worthy of praise (2 corinthians 8:20-21)

in philippians (4:8-9) paul writes of "saw me doing."  when we are in a church where love is not spoken (not a "token love" but a "spoken love."), rules and regulations are designed to control and "guide," where people are being hurt by the "leadership" and we hear "we are only human" what are we hearing?  the "saw me doing" is cruel and hurtful, so the church must be cruel and hurtful - and believe it or not, most non-believers make the leap to say, "God is cruel and hurtful."  

a "new life" is a convicted, learning life.  when peter spoke (acts 2:37-38) people turned because they saw the dirt in their hearts, and knew they needed a "new life" to be right with God.  they knew they needed to do something new, they knew that the divine power of jesus could, and would, change their lives and actions - they would be "new life" people.  they knew the message could change their lives (2 peter 1:3) and make the new in christ, to life a "new life."

closing thoughts

a "new life" in christ is possible and a must for all people who call themselves "children of God."  God can change us and make us new in him, but we must ask and believe (james 1:6) and not doubt he will change us.  stephen shields, the founder of faithmaps.org ( www.faithmaps.org ), introduced the word "faithmaps" into my life and i am forever grateful.  i like the idea of a faith journey - a trip in faith.  while our destination is the same, the way we get there differs, because our individual starting point differ.  some may select a scenic rout, other may take the direct business route, while other do a mix.  some take the bus, the train, car pool, drive alone (the boring way, but valid), some on bike, some on horseback, some run, some walk, some hike, the combinations are endless.  while it matters little the way we travel our "walk" they important part is know we travel with a "new life."  it is this "new life" that allows us to stop on the side of the road and help those who need help.  it is this "new life" that creates in us a "new heart" that is not effected by "faithmaping" traffic jams.

when i was a teen living in florida we use to drive the highways looking for hitchhikers.  when we found one we would play cruel games on that person - we might pelt them with eggs, or rotten tomatoes.  we might spray them with a super-soaker filled with water, or grape juice.  we might pull along side and shout at them.  we might pull so close as to scare them off the road.  we might even pull aside far head of them, make them run to us - then pull away laughing.  we justified our actions by saying, "we were only teens and this is what teens do.  besides, we not really hurting anyone."

we are a church filled with people on a journey, and too many churches, and church people, act like teenagers driving along the highways giving hitchhikers (seekers and skeptics) a hard time and saying, "we're only human.  besides, we not really hurting anyone."

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