Today the subject came up, of giving up things for Lent. One of my guys said, being Catholic, he couldn't eat meat on Friday. And my hackles rose. I think I am losing tolerance, as I get older, for all the "boundry markers" of organized religion. Why is it wrong to eat meat on Fridays, or to listen to certain music, to dance, to play cards, to smoke or drink, or the myrid of other things our "religions" of one kind or another outlaw?
Perhaps we should outlaw the real enemies to our Spirituality, like gossip, and envy, and greed, and back-biting, and malice, slander, and filthy language, lying, lust, and immorality, idolatry, compaining, and arguing... Why do we allow all these things to go on in our churches, and often aren't even offended by them, but someone having a smoke out on the steps is treated like a leper? Because they are sins of the heart, and the others are outward physical acts that we measure our "spirituality" against others... We try to be "spiritual" in our own strength, and so we look for outward signs to measure ourselves against. The real measure comes from what flows out of our heart; is it anger or rage, envy, greed, gossiping, slander, complaining, and all their cousins listed above, or is it kindness, gentleness, patience, peace, love, humility, faithfulness, goodness, compassion, and self-control? We need to look within ourselves, rather than outward at others.
Love God, and love his people. That's our measure.
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