What we ought to do!

If you love your neighbor as yourself, love your enemies and do good to those that persecute you, this blog is not for you. For many of us who grew up in a legalistic church, we still have embedded deep inside of us the feeling that the commandments of God were not negotiable. If God said to do it, you will do it or burn in hell. We took that very seriously. It was so serious that in order to remain in the church, you could not break these teachings. I want to discuss some of these things as I have grown through the years to have a different understanding. I don't pretend to know the truth but am striving to learn.

I believe that commandments such as love your neighbor and love your enemies are not really commandments as in, if you don't do these, you will not be saved. If that is true, none of are saved. None of us truly love our neighbors as much as we do ourselves. We can't even drive down the road without calling another driver a "moron" for doing something stupid on the road. Do we really love that guy? Much less people who try to harm us. Do we really love the world leaders you want to kill us as much as we love ourselves? You can see where I'm going here. We simply don't obey all of these commandments. So, what are we supposed to do? Here is my thought. These commandments are really things we "ought" to do. In order for me to represent Christ, I ought to love my neighbor and I ought to treat my body as a temple and I ought to feed the poor and I ought to take care of the widows. I ought to visit the sick and I ought to love my enemies. But, these are not game changers. If they are, we are all in a heap of trouble. So, they are things we ought to do and not legalistic commandments.

The conflict that our church leaders had was not understanding the difference between what we ought to do and what God commands that we will do in order to be saved. They set rules before us that drew some lines in the sand that if we crossed the line, we were history. Lines like girls wearing pants and girls wearing makeup and girls.....it was mostly aimed at the girls. These old rules were tough on the girls. Rules made by men speaking on behalf of God. All of this would have been resolved if we had just had an attitude of teaching what we "ought" to do rather than what we WILL do in order to be saved. 

If your boss tells you that you ought to do something, you will strive to do it. It is in your best interest to remain in good standing. If your Dad or Mom suggests that you ought to do something, you honor their request and consider what they are asking you to do. When Jesus gives us guidelines for every day living, we ought to do it. We ought to strive for perfection. But, we cannot obey all of these commandments to the letter. It is too easy to look at all of the commandments and give up. Don't do that. Just know what you ought to do and strive for the best. God's grace is an incredible thing. We need it everyday as we strive to do His will and do the things we "ought" to do. We ought to love!