So where are we now?


Since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand.

We have been justified.

We have peace with God.

We now stand in grace.

__________

That's pretty much it.  That's where we are and where we're going.

We are free to gather with other believers to encourage each other to remember this truth.

We can experience "growth" in life by learning and sharing with others - information about God, whatever our spiritual gift or talent might be - we can collaborate and it shows God to the world even more.

There is no urgency to get things done in an hour or two per week, God is always with us and his Spirit is in us, guiding if were listening, and interceding for us even when we're not.

__________

What about "church services" and singing and giving and sermons and communion and all that?

Sure, those things happen with people - we have a long history and many traditions out there that do a different spin on all those things - if that aids you in your walk with God, feel free.  If not, don't.

Brand loyalty in a life of trust and dependence on God comes down to being "loyal" to the good news and not mixing it with things that aren't the good news, just because we want to make sure people "act right".

There is a lot of freedom inside the good news - freedom to allow God's spirit to guide, to join with others, to grow at a pace God is leading you and not at someone else's insistence or pressure.

__________

Won't people go on and sin and NOT do good things if we tell them that God's already forgiven all their sin and doesn't count it against them anymore?

Well, they will anyway - our lying to people and telling them that God is tallying up their good versus bad deeds doesn't motivate anyone for more than a short time and it is not true.

We like to use that kind of thinking and talking with people because we think it will keep them right with God when it actually only keeps them acting a certain way around us - acting being the key word.

Either the love of Christ compels us to lean into grace and allow it to shape our lives or nothing else will. As believers, it is grace that teaches us to say no to sin.

_________

So that's where we stand at the moment.  What does that mean for "going to church" going forward?  I don't know yet.  As mentioned before, we are still "visiting around" and probably will for a while.

When we're looking, we are looking for a collection of people who trust and depend on God and not necessarily a group that is following or defending a tradition of some kind.

Most of the time when talking about it, people will mention their great preacher or song/worship ministry or kids ministry or whatever and that's fine, I get why people hold up their best for the world to see.

Those things are a potential plus, but I've sat through plenty of church gatherings where the speaker was dynamic and the songs were upbeat, etc and it was full all sorts of untruth/non-gospel things said/done.

I know that "no place is perfect" and there's always gonna be people who have different opinions and that's fine. But there are some things worth holding out for.

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Today is 20/25 or 95/100 in the wrap up of 100 days of writing to unpack all this about deconstruction and rebuilding.  

One more week left for the commitment of daily writing and then we'll see what happens after.

There is SO much that could be said and I am keeping separate writings for other times about other topics that surround this process.

If you're just catching up - as I learn each week from some people who are surprised to find I've made a change in life direction - there are a lot more things on this blog that can unpack those questions for you.

Play around with it and you can find the starting post and go all the way through.  

It is a lot and I wouldn't read it all myself if I wasn't writing it and/or interested in the inside track of someone going through deconstruction and rebuilding.

As always, feel free to message me with questions, etc.

Grace and peace.

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