Molds
Molds... Not the kind that make us sneeze or that smell bad or can make us sick. The kind of molds we use to shape liquid when it turns solid. Like a Jell-O mold or a bundt pan.
The Bible tells us that Jesus is the cornerstone that the builders rejected - the One that has become the foundation of our beliefs, our lives, as followers of Him. But have you ever thought about the fact that if we claim to follow Him, our lives should be like empty, Jesus-shaped molds into which we "pour" everything else? But is this really how we, as Christians, are? Or do we have whatever-else-shaped molds that we attempt to pour Jesus into?
Think about it for a minute. How many ideas and philosophies do we pour Jesus into?
I'm going to talk about one of my favorite issues for a while - education. I was recently a part of a group of moms when the conversation turned to how non-Biblical child-directed learning is. The reasoning was, "There is a hierarchy in the Bible." So we take our educational mold that was formed in Greek scholastitcism and pour Jesus into it. God wants our children to do worksheets and take standardized tests. Oh, let's not forget to throw in a Scripture. Maybe something like "Study to show thyself approved to God." Yeah, that sounds like a good one. In reality, the Hebrew model of education was not like Greek scholasticism at all. It was life-learning. It was even making Scripture a part of everyday life. Is it really necessary to pour Jesus into the scholastic mold of education that we prefer by adding terms like "Biblical" to the mold's definition?
Let's choose another one. Let's think for a moment about theology, another of my favorite topics. How many times do we choose a pet doctrine, and then we pour Jesus into it? We take a doctrine of holiness or predestination or free will or whatever, slap a couple of Bible Verses to the ideology, and form a mold. Bam! A new church is born. It's' not exactly a Jesus-shaped mold, but it will suffice for now. It looks good, and so do we when we proclaim it with boldness. After all, boldness pleases God.
How about societal issues? We could pick a lot of them, but it's usually safer to pick one or two that are popular. That way the mold is already there and there are others who are already using it. It should be easy to pour Jesus into it that way. We have others to back us up at our protests against the world.
In reality, we must realize that there is not an instance in the Bible of God dealing with all people in the same way. He has always dealt and still deals with people in the way that they individually need. He leads people in different ways. He gives people different talents. He knows people have different abilities in different areas. He knows we all have different struggles. He even knows not all sin is created equally. Something we could do well to realize. It's all different, for different reasons. God did not want us to be cookie cutter models of one another. He created us to pour our lives into that Jesus-shaped mold. When we do, we're each going to come out being who He wants us to be. Not who our neighbor wants us to be. Not who the pastor down the street thinks we should be. Not even who we think we should be. Who He says we are.
The Bible tells us that Jesus is the cornerstone that the builders rejected - the One that has become the foundation of our beliefs, our lives, as followers of Him. But have you ever thought about the fact that if we claim to follow Him, our lives should be like empty, Jesus-shaped molds into which we "pour" everything else? But is this really how we, as Christians, are? Or do we have whatever-else-shaped molds that we attempt to pour Jesus into?
Think about it for a minute. How many ideas and philosophies do we pour Jesus into?
I'm going to talk about one of my favorite issues for a while - education. I was recently a part of a group of moms when the conversation turned to how non-Biblical child-directed learning is. The reasoning was, "There is a hierarchy in the Bible." So we take our educational mold that was formed in Greek scholastitcism and pour Jesus into it. God wants our children to do worksheets and take standardized tests. Oh, let's not forget to throw in a Scripture. Maybe something like "Study to show thyself approved to God." Yeah, that sounds like a good one. In reality, the Hebrew model of education was not like Greek scholasticism at all. It was life-learning. It was even making Scripture a part of everyday life. Is it really necessary to pour Jesus into the scholastic mold of education that we prefer by adding terms like "Biblical" to the mold's definition?
Let's choose another one. Let's think for a moment about theology, another of my favorite topics. How many times do we choose a pet doctrine, and then we pour Jesus into it? We take a doctrine of holiness or predestination or free will or whatever, slap a couple of Bible Verses to the ideology, and form a mold. Bam! A new church is born. It's' not exactly a Jesus-shaped mold, but it will suffice for now. It looks good, and so do we when we proclaim it with boldness. After all, boldness pleases God.
How about societal issues? We could pick a lot of them, but it's usually safer to pick one or two that are popular. That way the mold is already there and there are others who are already using it. It should be easy to pour Jesus into it that way. We have others to back us up at our protests against the world.
In reality, we must realize that there is not an instance in the Bible of God dealing with all people in the same way. He has always dealt and still deals with people in the way that they individually need. He leads people in different ways. He gives people different talents. He knows people have different abilities in different areas. He knows we all have different struggles. He even knows not all sin is created equally. Something we could do well to realize. It's all different, for different reasons. God did not want us to be cookie cutter models of one another. He created us to pour our lives into that Jesus-shaped mold. When we do, we're each going to come out being who He wants us to be. Not who our neighbor wants us to be. Not who the pastor down the street thinks we should be. Not even who we think we should be. Who He says we are.
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