Spiritual Pinball

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I was recently reading a past study from this Website,  Freedom in Christ, and I was thinking about how powerful is that truth of our freedom in Christ.  Then I began to think about how so many Christians either do not understand, or they do not believe much of the truth of this freedom, and began to wonder why.  Why is it so hard to see, understand and simply believe and live out the truths of Christ which God reveals powerfully to and in us?

The answer came to me in a revelational picture of a pinball machine.  You pull back the springloaded knob and let it go, sending a steel ball out of the chute to the top of the machine, and gravity brings it down toward the exit chute.  Ahhhh!  Revelation!

But standing in the way of that ball’s free and unhindered descent are obstacles, called bumpers, all over the place, most of which have their own springloaded mechanisms by which, when struck by the ball, they send it flying off in random directions.  That ball is not free to go where it wants to go, the exit chute.  In fact, even as it gets close to that exit chute, there is a very deliberate mechanism in place meant to keep it out….the flippers!

So it is with well meaning Christians.  They read the Word of God, and they desire to believe it and live it and see its truth manifested in their life.  But when they try, so many obstacles to the truth’s free expression seem to jump out and block their way.  And I’m not just talking about carnally lustful type sins.  There are trickier kinds.

For example, maybe a believer reads the following in their Bible.

Galatians 5:1  Stand fast therefore in the liberty with which Christ has made us free, and be no longer entangled again with the yoke of bondage.

Maybe they read it themselves in their own personal Bible study, or with others in a group study, or maybe they hear it read and preached at Church on Sunday.  Okay, the words themselves have entered their head, but has the truth of the words entered their heart?  Not necessarily.

There are bumpers and flippers in every Church….practices, or ways of seeing things, of living out what is supposed to be the life of God.  The preacher reads, “You are free in Christ.”  But do you think he is going to add…..”That means you are free not to come to Church on Sunday?”  I don’t think so.

He’s going to say something, interpret this verse, in a way which keeps his flock close to their Church home, closely bound to their pastor and his congregation.  Perhaps he’s going to say that freedom means we can do our Christian tasks, lead our Christian lives, with joy in our heart, with love for others…..and others will see that joy and love and want what we have; want to come to church with you.  But Galatians 5:1 doesn’t talk about love or joy, or about bringing others to church….it talks about freedom!

Galatians 4:29   But as then he who was born after the flesh persecuted him who was born after the Spirit, even so it is now.

The Christian (pastor, pope, young believer…anyone) who is walking by his flesh will not be an encouragement to the one who desires to be led by the Spirit of God.  That bondage to flesh only desires more of the same….bondage to flesh.  It can only be by a strict, disciplined desire to follow the Spirit’s working all the way to the end, no matter how it looks to others, that a person gets to see what freedom in Christ is really all about.

Romans 8:12  Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.

Otherwise,  a Christian could read the following verse.

Galatians 5:13  For brethren, you have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.

And because of the pinball bumpers and flippers which confront his desire to see that truth manifest in his life,  he could think that serving one another means telling another Christian who doesn’t share the same Christian doctrine as he does that they are going to hell if they don’t change their belief.  Maybe he’ll harshly and condemningly reprove someone because they used a four letter word, telling them to “watch their witness.”  Maybe he’ll demand from one of his friends that if they really loved God, they wouldn’t ever miss Church on Sunday, like they have been doing lately.

Why would a Christian behave in such a way toward others?   This is not the truth of God’s Word being manifested in and through their lives.  Rather, it is the example they’ve been given at their church, or among their Christian friends, or by their pastor; or perhaps it is them being tricked by the devil.  These erroneous examples are obstacles to true spiritual growth.

Matthew 15:7, 8  You hypocrites, well did Isaiah prophesy of you, saying, This people draws near unto me with their mouth, and honors me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.  And in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.

All of these erroneous ways of seeing and interpreting and manifesting the words of the Word of God are like the the bumpers in a pinball game.  They don’t allow the truth of God’s Word, of Christ,  to find its (super)natural way into living itself out in a person’s life.  Rather they are obstacles in the path of truth, sending one who is seeking the spirit of freedom’s true manifestation flying off in directions never intended.  They are bumpers and flippers of erroneous understanding and perspective and behavior which have been implemented and established by the enemy of God, intended solely to keep people away from the glorious fruit of the spirit’s true manifestation.

John 5:44  How can you believe, who receive honor (doxa – glory) one of another, and seek not the honor (glory) that comes from God only?

If your pursuit of truth and its manifestation  needs to be filtered through the approval of others, no matter who they are (friend, father, pastor, pope), then you will never be free to follow Christ.  Rather, you will be stuck in a religious rut of understanding, interpretation and application which limits your access to God and the true and free expression of that relationship.

The idea of “accountability” to another Christian is a spiritual bumper.  It is nothing more than standing approved before man!  Abide by it and be spiritually stunted, or sent off in all unfruitful directions by good (fleshly) intentions.

The idea of needing to obey your church’s head pastor in all things is a spiritual flipper.  It is standing approved before man!  Need this flipper to make your spiritual decisions, or even to approve the working of Christ within you, and you’ll live a spiritually stunted existence.

The idea of conforming your behavior to fit in with the way everyone else at your church does things is a pinball machine of impediments, obstacles, bumpers and flippers meant only to keep you from the glorious freedom of experiencing Christ as your head.

The truth is…..I have no idea what the freedom that you have in Christ is going to look like or where it’s going to take you, as you grow and develop in your spiritual relationship with the Father.  I can’t even imagine how that freedom is going to play itself out in my own life, much less yours.  But I do know  that it will have the same character and nature as Christ.  Your freedom…..my freedom……Christ’s freedom…..all have the indelible character and nature of God’s tender love.

Time to get rid of the preconceived notions of what a life in Christ should look like.  Time to stand against the religious bumpers and flippers which have kept our lives from Christ’s glorious freedom for so long.  Time to see these things for what they really are….obstacles to spiritual growth and manifestation.

Every day can be an exciting experience of journey and discovery in the life of God.  Seek Christ and allow his spirit within you to find uniquely personal expression in the world in which you live.  Don’t be afraid of the disapproval of others; in fact, it’s pretty well guaranteed by God you’ll face disapproval as long as you allow the spirit of Christ to lead your life.

John 15:18, 19   If the world hate you, you know that it hated me before it hated you.  If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. 

John 16:2, 3   They shall put you out of the synagogues (churches); yea, the time comes that whosoever kills you will think the he does God service.  And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me.

Rather than seeking or desiring the approval of man, realize you and Christ are going to live a fantastically unique, powerful, dynamic life.  It is only in the discovery and experience of the spirit of Christ that we are birthed, completed, fulfilled and caused to grow and flourish in a way the world has never before seen.  Enjoy the journey!

I Corinthians 3:21-23  Therefore let no man glory in men.  For all things are yours; Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas (Peter) or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours; And you are Christ’s; and Christ is God’s.

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See other studies:
Watch Out!
Conform, Reform, or Transform
The Approval of Man
Dark Christian Doctrines