"It's a sin to do less than your best" and "Abstain from all appearance of evil". These are things I heard a lot growing up. These things caused me to feel constant guilt and took away all my freedom. I'm not bitter about my past, I'm just really excited about what I'm learning now!
"It is a sin to do less than your best." When I was a kid, I actually thought this was a Bible verse, but it's just something Dr. Bob said a long time ago. I always associated it with 1 Corinthians 10:31 "Whether therefore you eat or drink or whatsoever you do, do all to the glory of God." and Ecclesiastes 9:10 "Whatsoever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might." There is a difference between doing my best and doing something for God's glory. Doing something for God's glory is considering Him in everything I do and keeping Him always in my thoughts. God knows my limits and that I can't do my best in every area of my life all the time, but He does expect me to give Him glory in everything I do. God does not want me to do my best at cleaning my house when I need to take care of a sick child. I don't think I'm sinning by doing less than my best at cleaning my house in this situation, but I do think I am glorifying God with my actions. I use to think Ecclesiastes 9:10 meant that Christians should do everything to the best of their ability. But now I think this verse means we should enjoy life and good health while we have it. Live in the moment. Give it all you've got, because life will soon be over. I know I've mentioned this before, but I use to feel guilty if I didn't take the time to perfectly fold the laundry, because of this verse and because if I didn't do my best it was sin. I felt like I had to keep my house perfectly clean all the time and play with the kids all the time and spend time with my husband all the time. It was really frustrating trying to do something impossible thinking I was sinning when I couldn't do my best in every area of my life. Whenever I heard this verse quoted (whatsoever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might) I got the impression that it was suppose to motivate me to do my best at everything, but trying to live up to this expectation led to constant guilt and feelings that I was letting God down. And now I find out it doesn't even mean what I thought it did!
"Abstain from all appearance of evil" is 1 Thessalonians 5:22 in the KJV. It's actually quite different in the ESV "Abstain from any form of evil." I think this verse is often misinterpreted in fundamental churches. I use to think that this meant that I shouldn't do anything that could be perceived as evil to anyone else, but if I can't do anything that appears evil to anyone else I give up all my freedom and live in slavery. I give up all my Christian liberty and live by everyone's convictions because I can't do anything that might seem bad to anyone else. This is not a very fun way to live. I was constantly worrying about what other people were thinking. If I did something really bad like rent a movie, I worried that someone might see me. The verse actually says to stay away from evil in whatever form it appears. To avoid all things that are clearly sin, is more consistent with other Scripture.
I actually find it very exciting learning the meaning of these familiar verses in the right context. Christianity isn't as bad as I thought it was ;)
Lisa you are awesome! Love reading all the things you post! Have a wonderful day!
ReplyDeleteThank you, so much!
ReplyDeleteLisa, this kind of thinking sure can lead to a perfectionistic slavery. Just because someone sees my house in a less-than-perfect condition while I have kids who have just gotten over fevers does NOT mean I am sinning in not doing the superhuman (and frankly negligent) thing in keeping every surface tidy. My "testimony" (translate "pride") is not hurt by someone seeing our house at less-than-perfect. We are not enslaved to the opinions of others...our job is do what we can to be the best servants possible out of love for God and I knowledge of His forgiveness of all our heinous sins (including the not-so-heinous sin of not being Supermom!) The truth is we might actually be missing a chance to show calm grace under fire even when we CAN'T appear to have it all together. You said it much better, but I had to add my two cents because this way of thinking is so enslaving in our circles of upbringing. If I can't save my soul from my sin nature, why sweat it that I can't appear to be the perfect Prov. 31 woman all the time :)
ReplyDeleteExactly! Doing something to the best of our ability for God's glory can lead to perfectionism which can turn into idolatry. Thanks for your input, Emily.
ReplyDeleteJeff and I were just discussing this and he added a good thought..."without faith it is impossible to please Hm." We are exalting character above faith when we stick to man-made standards. Think of Martha, who was cambered with much serving, doing everything right, vs. Mary, sitting at Jesus' feet.
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