Rigidity

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Jesus was the ultimate non-conformist.  When I read His recorded words there are times when I can actually hear the gasps from the crowd, the disagreeing grunts from the Sadducees and Pharisees.

*"There are people who do not want us to be free. They don't want us to be free before God, accepted just as we are by His grace.  They don't want us to be free to express our faith originally and creatively in the world."

*"They themselves refuse to live arduously and openly in faith, but huddle together with a few others and try to get a sense of approval by insisting that all look alike, talk alike and act alike, thus validating one another's worth.  They try to enlarge their numbers only on the condition that new members act and talk and behave the way they do."

Does this at all sound familiar?  I've attended many churches, and met many individuals who are so rigid as to tell me their ways are the right ways.  I believe that God gave us the Holy Spirit so we don't fall into the traps of conformism.

Tell me, honestly, do you see Jesus in your day-to-day interaction with others?  Are you judgmental and rigid to those who are of a different religion?  Or, are you embracing them as believers of the one true God, and brothers and sisters in Christ?

I want to encourage you to stop looking at the rigid trappings of your religion, and practice your faith as Jesus did.  LOVE one another as He loves you!

*Eugene Peterson, Traveling Light 

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