Heritage

I run at the YMCA a lot. They have an indoor track where you have to run 17 laps to complete a mile.

If you don’t know what it’s like to feel as if you’re going in circles in life, just go to the Y.

Anyways- outside the track’s entrance is a sign which tells you the direction to run/walk that day (they switch the direction to prevent knee injury for regular users). And every so often, there is someone who misses the sign, that doesn’t notice everyone else going in the same direction, and starts running the wrong way.

This is always an interesting moment because the thing everyone else knows is this person is going the wrong way. And the tension everyone else feels is who is going to tell them that they need to run with the flow?

I tend to hesitate because it’s obvious this person is new either to the Y, or to exercise all together, and I don’t want to embarrass them in any way. But you have to say something, because at some point there could be a head-on collision. Addressing the one going in the wrong direction is never fun. It’s awkward; but in the end- it’s for everyone’s good.

Sometimes in life, we have to break hard news. It’s definitely not easy. It can be stressful. But we do it because we understand that it is necessary in order to avoid a head on collision. We’ve all had these moments where either we have to receive discipline or have to speak the truth with courage.

Proverbs 1:23 says “If you turn at my reproof, behold, I will pour out my spirit to you; I will make my words known to you.”

Proverbs 1:23 says “If you turn at my reproof, behold, I will pour out my spirit to you; I will make my words known to you.”

It’s not a negative thing to receive reproof, or correction. It’s God’s grace. Without the confrontation, you rarely have the chance to turn and receive the transforming work of God’s Spirit.

Recently, our nation has been wrestling. There is way too much to write about in a simple post, but living in Virginia, there has been plenty of tension over one word: heritage.

We’ve seen so much hostility, so much brokenness not only in the world but in the church too. And I feel like as believers we need to have a moment of reproof. A moment to turn, change and make sure we are loving our neighbor.

The early church had a similar struggle. We know this because the Apostle Paul talks about it over and over in his letters, especially in Galatians.  They struggled with the “do’s and don’ts” of the law. If you aren’t familiar with the Law, it was the cultural guidelines to life for those coming from a Jewish background. These aren’t laws like you and I are familiar with. These are laws, or rules, for their faith; behaviors ingrained in early childhood that measured one’s holiness.

The Law became their heritage.

Here’s what we need to pay attention to: Because the Israelites revered their way of life so much, once they became a follower of Christ, they really struggled with letting go of their heritage. So much so that when non-Israelites started to follow Jesus, they wrestled with making other new Christians adhere to the Jewish way, or the Law, too. They even battled with this idea of being truly free from the law themselves. This is why Paul wrote this letter – to warn them of a head on collision.

A collision that would bring someone to question their new faith.

A collision that might cause someone to completely turn and go away from Jesus.

A collision that would cause both the Jew and the Gentile to be trapped in prisons, from which Christ had already set them free.

As believers, we can actually have the same issue thousands of years later. There is still this temptation to hold onto our “heritage”. The danger is sometimes we can hold onto our heritage at the expense of loving our neighbor.

Paul confronts this tendency saying, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).

Life is no longer about what I think is important. I have been crucified.

Life is no longer about where we came from once we start following Christ. We have a new heritage to cherish.

Sometimes we can hold onto our heritage at the expense of loving our neighbor.

He goes on to explain, “So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (3:26-28).

Paul addresses our new identity in Christ. We are now children of God, finding our roots, our heritage, in the family of God.

He also shows us our new objective: above all we must clothe ourselves (daily) with the same attitude and priority of Jesus – namely, to love.

The apostle Paul was so passionate about calling us to our embrace this new heritage found in Christ because Jesus was so passionate about it.

Jesus said the greatest commandments are to Love God and to Love our neighbor and in this, he creates our new heritage.

Paul knows this is what we need to be all about, loving our neighbor. When he says, “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:2). He is pointing the us back to our purpose and our calling.

So, in other words, if my heritage, or anything for that matter, is greater than my love for my neighbor, I am not fulfilling what Christ has called me to.

The apostle Paul was so passionate about calling us to our embrace this new heritage found in Christ because Jesus was so passionate about it.

My heritage can’t be more important than my neighbor. Perceived or real, our neighbor’s emotions are legitimate. So if you say, ‘it’s not hate, it’s a heritage’, but you neighbor perceives hate – your heritage has become greater than loving your neighbor.

This draws us to two questions:

1. What am I putting above loving your neighbor?

Because if we are honest, whether it is our heritage or something else, we can all create traditions (even religious ones) that actually cause us break the command of God. We can all elevate personal preference or personal rights at the expense of someone else. And as Christians, that must change. We must reflect the same love as Christ laid down everything so you and I could be with the Father.

Let this be a moment of reproof, a turning point for you and me. Let us renew our minds about what we have gained through Jesus. I encourage you to read Galatians and start to exchange your traditions for a new heritage in Christ.

2. How can I learn to love better?

Our love for one another should be so compelling that the world stops and takes note. If our love for our neighbor doesn’t look any different to the world, then we aren’t loving well.

Let me make this practical: if all your friends look just like you, you should make a new friend – someone who stretches your worldview, who cause you to cherish the Kingdom of God and its diversity. This is just one of many possible steps you can take to love better.

We are also called to be like Jesus, who is the very picture of grace and truth (John 1:17). He came to give grace abundantly, but He also gives an abundance of truth. Because He loves so much, Jesus brings graceful reproof to so many. We have that same opportunity. We can bring his light to the darkness of our broken world. We can be that grace and truth in someone’s life.

 

This post is my response to the brokenness around me. My heart has been so torn by the turmoil and the acts of violence. This is one of my possible steps to help shine Light in so much darkness. Let your life be all about who you want to be with, our Father, and who you are going to bring with you. Love your neighbor. Lay your life down so they can be with the Father too.

 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live,
but Christ lives in me.
The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God,
who loved me and gave himself for me.
Galatians 2:20

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Photo by Misty Osborne.