Cranial Dump

When I was a child I was taught that if I was a good person, I would go to heaven. If I helped others, if I was honest, if I was helpful instead of antagonistic, etc., etc., I would be “good enough” to go to heaven.

I have abandoned the concept of doing enough good works to get into heaven and I think that doing good to get to heaven is like bargaining with God or buying my way into heaven. I do not sense that God says I may join Him if I do enough good on earth, yet paradoxically, I feel called to do His work, which certainly is defined as doing good because the end result of this work is caring for others and easing their burdens.

I know a person who puts hours of time into volunteering at her church, to the point that she is consistently stressed out by trying to fit her work, family, home and volunteering into her schedule. She complains about “having” to do the work at church and when I tell her maybe God has someone else in mind to cover some of the commitments she made when her family was smaller, she claims no one else will do the work and the programs will cease to exist if she does not continue to volunteer. This makes no sense to me, considering that the church she attends has well over 1,000 members. Surely someone else in congregation is capable of doing some of this volunteer work and would be called to take over some of her duties, and they might even do so joyfully because they feel the Holy Spirit moving them to do so.

She’s not going to listen to me, though, so I pray that her mind and conscience be cleared so that she can release some of her volunteer obligations, if that is God’s will.

It seems to me that having the attitude that you “have” to serve in a particular capacity, and that you are the only one who can fill a serving role is self-centered and not God-centered. Showing those around us what a “good Christian” we are by being so involved with church that friends and family suffer when they are around us because we behave like stressed-out martyrs sends out a confusing message about Christianity. I don’t see anywhere in the Bible where God says, “work for the church to the point that you are difficult to be around and you do not have the time to enjoy and serve your family peacefully”.

James 2:20
(NIV) You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless?

(Message) Do you suppose for a minute that you can cut faith and works in two and not end up with a corpse on your hands?

(Amplified) Are you willing to be shown [proof], you foolish (unproductive, spiritually deficient) fellow, that faith apart from [good] works is inactive and ineffective and worthless?

Tags: Christianity, Christianity

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