Friday, August 1, 2008

These days, Christianity carries so much baggage. Perhaps the worst piece of luggage is a little word we call "guilt." Nasty little thing, isn't it? As much as guilt has a place in the Christian life--after all, the conviction of the Holy Spirit is one of the marks of genuine conversion--it shouldn't overshadow the real gifts of salvation. I sense that a lot of people today want to put down the rigid, leather suitcase of guilt and pick up the broken-in, lightweight sling of the Gospel. This bag is packed with passion and freedom.

Recently, one of my seminary heroes--Dr. Alvin Reid--wrote a brilliant blog post about shedding the baggage of Christianity and rediscovering "the great idea of the Gospel." Upon my request, Dr. Reid was gracious enough to let me pirate his work and publish it with Relevant Magazine.

As the article states:

"We must rediscover the great commission and great commandment. We must pursue a passion-driven Christianity. If our faith is to become a transformative, redemptive power within the culture, we need to flee guilt-driven, duty-centered puppetry and call down a passion for the great idea of the Gospel. "

Wanna make an even exchange--your guilt for His grace? Wanna reclaim the big idea of the Gospel? Then, give "Saying Goodbye to Guilt-Driven Christianity" a read, and tell me what you think.

4 comments:

coco cupcake said...

I think you're absolutely right. I often find myself carrying around that "guilt" and then I realize I should really let go and relish in living guilt free and passionately for God

Anonymous said...

One of the issues we deal with in reaching our culture is that we feel so guilty that we feel unworthy to share Christ. It happens to me, I know. Freedom in Christ is a wonderful thing, promised to us in Scripture, I pray we all can embrace it and enjoy it.
John Johnson
www.pluslife.wordpress.com

Joy said...

Your link to the Evangelical Environmental Network is not directing properly. I think you used .com instead of .org

Cheers.

Jonathan Merritt said...

Michelle-

I fixed it. Thanks for the update!

Blessings,

Jm